2023-06-06 05:32:02
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Authorities are investigating Tuesday whether Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was behind a flight that picked up asylum seekers at the Texas border and transferred them, apparently without their knowledge. , to the California capital, Sacramento, as religious groups struggled to find them room and board.
About 20 people between the ages of 21 and 30 were flown on a private plane to Sacramento on Monday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said. It was the second such flight in four days.
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and religious groups that have been helping migrants have called a news conference for Tuesday morning.
For his part, California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized DeSantis as a “pathetic little man” and suggested the state might file kidnapping charges.
DeSantis and other Florida officials were silent on the matter, as they did initially last year when they flew 49 Venezuelan migrants to the luxurious enclave of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts on private planes from a shelter in San Antonio.
DeSantis, who is running for the Republican nomination for the White House, has been a staunch critic of President Joe Biden’s immigration policy and has publicized Florida’s role in previous cases of migrant transfer to Democratic-majority states.
In addition, he has made the migrant relocation program one of his top political priorities, using the state legislative process to fund it with millions of dollars and working with various contractors to carry out the flights.
Vertol Systems Co., the company Florida paid to move the migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, appears to be behind the flights Monday and last Friday to Sacramento, Bonta added, noting that the passengers were carrying “an official document from the state of Florida” in which the company is mentioned.
The company did not respond to an email requesting comment.
In all, more than three dozen migrants have arrived in Sacramento on flights between Friday and Monday. Most are Colombian and Venezuelan. California was not the destination they were looking for and their arrival took shelters and aid workers by surprise, authorities said.
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