Newly released documents show Governor Ron DeSantis was sincere in his promise to continue transporting migrants to Democratic states. Documents obtained on Friday show that the Governor had paid for additional flights to transfer around 100 migrants to Delaware and Illinois.
The administration of Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis plans to continue transporting illegal immigrants to Democratic strongholds, his spokeswoman said on Saturday. Newly released records revealed the state paid nearly $1 million to arrange two sets of flights to Delaware and Illinois.
According to documents on Friday, the two planned aircraft will transfer around 100 migrants to these two states. They were supposed to occur before October 3; however, they were presumably canceled or postponed.
According to letters supplied by the state’s Department of Transportation, the contractor engaged by Florida extended the timeframe for the travel until December 1.
Taryn Fenske, the communications director for DeSantis, explained that Florida has been busy dealing with the effects of Hurricane Ian when asked why the planes were delayed. Florida has been reacting to our devastating catastrophe with all hands on deck; the immigration relocation program remains open, Fenske wrote in a Saturday email.
In September, 49 migrants, primarily from Venezuela, were transported to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, where former President Barack Obama maintains a house. Local officials were not informed beforehand that refugees would be arriving.
DeSantis claimed credit for the planes as part of an effort to draw attention to the failing border policies of the Biden administration. He joined Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, both Republicans, in their strategy of deploying migrants to Democratic areas without prior notice.
The Florida Legislature earlier this year authorized a $12 million budget item to remove illegal immigrants from Florida to another state. The monies originated from the interest accrued on federal grants allocated to Florida under the American Rescue Plan. Although the migrant flights to Martha’s Vineyard started in Texas, the charter aircraft that transported them made a stop in Florida. DeSantis stated that the migrants intended to arrive in Florida.
The records published on Friday provided no information about how or who was engaged in recruiting migrants in San Antonio for the Martha Vineyard flights. The trip to Martha’s Vineyard has also sparked lawsuits accusing Florida of deceiving migrants into agreeing to the flights.
ProPublica and the Texas Tribune reported on Friday that Washington, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine is investigating whether Texas Governor Greg Abbott and the governors of other border states misled the illegal immigrants they relocated to Democratic-run cities in the north.
Several federal and civil rights laws may have been broken, and taxpayer funds may have been misappropriated, according to the study authored by Democrat Racine. The migrants have articulated convincingly that they were deceived with promises of assistance, Racine said.
He also referred to the plan by Abbott, Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, and Arizona’s Republican Governor Doug Ducey to send illegal immigrants crossing the southern border to places such as New York, Washington, and Chicago as a “political gimmick.”
Renae Eze, the press secretary for Governor Abbott, assured the media outlets that there was no “trickery” involved in the transportation. Eric Adams, Mayor of New York City, claims that more than 17,000 asylum-seekers from the Southern Border have been bused to New York City.
In addition to New York, Abbott has bused migrants to Illinois and Washington, DC. More recently, he has taken to busing migrants directly to Vice President Kamala Harris’ home.