Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis' relocation of migrants has put state employees in legal jeopardy. Rob Bonta, California's attorney general and Javier Salazar, sheriff of Bexar County, Texas, which includes San Antonio, are investigating claims of migrants being deceived into boarding planes. Civil and criminal probes are underway.
After a nine-month investigation into a Florida-based organization that transported 49 migrants from San Antonio to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, Salazar's office filed charges with the local district attorney on Monday. Over the weekend, Bonta disclosed the results of his own inquiry.
He told The Hill, "I think dishonesty is a significant component of what's happening here.
Both of those inquiries revolve around DeSantis, the former president's main rival for the GOP nomination in 2024, whose hardline immigration policy is a cornerstone of his campaign.
"Gov. DeSantis is misusing tax resources in Florida. Rep. Darren Soto (D) of Florida stated, "We welcome the federal government or other states to help us contest these risky political stunts.
DeSantis' office seized control of the most recent flights, which ferried migrants from Texas to Sacramento, California, on Tuesday after being unusually silent on the subject for days.
The relocation of those caught crossing the border illegally is nothing new, according to the left-leaning mayors of El Paso, Texas, and Denver, Colorado, said division of disaster management spokeswoman Alecia Collins in a statement. But all of a sudden, it's wrongful detention and kidnapping when Florida transfers illegal immigrants to a sanctuary city.
In response to growing criticism from the West, Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis made an unusual defensive manoeuvre in his statement and a video made public by his office by characterizing the flights as voluntary.
"I'm delighted the state of Florida is embracing responsibility for what they've done," Bonta stated.
All the facts indicated that they had no other option. That it was them was clear. To fund this initiative, they have a financial outlay of $10–12 million.
The Democratic governor of California, Gavin Newsom, criticized DeSantis for the flights in a tweet on Monday, calling him a "small, sad guy" and suggesting that the flights be charged as abduction.
DeSantis did not mention the migrant planes or Newsom's criticism during a roundtable discussion on the border on Wednesday, but he did criticize the so-called "sanctuary" states and localities on immigration.
"Those are the policies they've established," he stated. "And what follows? They all of a sudden get very, very unhappy about that when they have to deal with some of the results of that.
After seeing a group of refugees from the planes on Saturday, Bonta declared that his probe will be thorough.
Including the state of Florida and its workers, as well as any commercial organization, he added, "everyone engaged, everyone participating in the plot and the transfer of the 36 asylum applicants from El Paso to Sacramento with New Mexico in between."
Salazar has been looking into the first Florida-related migrant flight for months, even though Bonta and Newsom are the most well-known Democrats to bring up criminal charges as a potential counterpunch to migrant relocations.
"[DeSantis] kidnapped these guys from San Antonio, where I grew up. As a result, San Antonio was always going to have some sort of authority, and the sheriff recently declared that he was going to do a thorough inquiry, according to Rep. Joaqun Castro (D-Texas).
Our district attorney, in my opinion, will closely examine [the inquiry], and if DeSantis and his team were guilty of the crimes they are accused of perpetrating, the district attorney will bring charges against them.
The suggested charges, according to Salazar's office, include multiple instances of wrongful restraint, some of which are misdemeanours and others felonies.
San Antonio immigration attorney Gerardo Menchaca, who has counselled several of the migrants who have taken the flights, said he thinks the alleged deceit qualifies as abduction.
“It’s kidnapping if you lie to somebody to get them in the car with you and then take them to a place where it’s totally different than what you told them it was going to be,” he said.
"We're going to find you a job, we instructed these individuals to come on. There is also a claim that someone was informed, "We'll expedite your employment permit." Since kids are involved, that is abduction, and minors aren't even capable of giving their permission.
Reactions from Bexar County and California stand in contrast to those of some big-city mayors including New York City’s Eric Adams (D), who condemned the practice of shipping migrants north but also butted heads with the Biden administration over funding for new arrivals.
Republican strategist Ford O'Connell said, "Whether it's [former Chicago Mayor] Lori Lightfoot or Eric Adams, they turn around and say, "This is a stunt," and then they say, "We can't take any more."
"And the Western Governors step in when they declare they can't take much more. The Western Governors weren’t gonna say anything. This is their way of trying to stop the bleeding by turning the subject back on the Republicans, but when you look at the polling, more Americans are waking up.”
Polls on immigration issues generally show a deep partisan divide, though key polls have found large majorities of Americans disapprove of President Biden’s handling of the issue.
Many Democrats, though, push back on the Republican idea that disapproval of Biden’s handling of immigration equates to approval of hard-line policies such as migrant relocations.
“Democrats are rightly taking a stand on this because it’s disgusting,” said Kristian Ramos, a Democratic strategist.
“What’s particularly stupid about all of this is, in a general election, Democrats, moderate Democrats and independents are solidly pro-immigrant, so once the general election rolls around for these Republican candidate
After a nine-month investigation into a Florida-based organization that transported 49 migrants from San Antonio to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, Salazar's office filed charges with the local district attorney on Monday. Over the weekend, Bonta disclosed the results of his own inquiry.
He told The Hill, "I think dishonesty is a significant component of what's happening here.
Both of those inquiries revolve around DeSantis, the former president's main rival for the GOP nomination in 2024, whose hardline immigration policy is a cornerstone of his campaign.
"Gov. DeSantis is misusing tax resources in Florida. Rep. Darren Soto (D) of Florida stated, "We welcome the federal government or other states to help us contest these risky political stunts.
DeSantis' office seized control of the most recent flights, which ferried migrants from Texas to Sacramento, California, on Tuesday after being unusually silent on the subject for days.
The relocation of those caught crossing the border illegally is nothing new, according to the left-leaning mayors of El Paso, Texas, and Denver, Colorado, said division of disaster management spokeswoman Alecia Collins in a statement. But all of a sudden, it's wrongful detention and kidnapping when Florida transfers illegal immigrants to a sanctuary city.
In response to growing criticism from the West, Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis made an unusual defensive manoeuvre in his statement and a video made public by his office by characterizing the flights as voluntary.
"I'm delighted the state of Florida is embracing responsibility for what they've done," Bonta stated.
All the facts indicated that they had no other option. That it was them was clear. To fund this initiative, they have a financial outlay of $10–12 million.
The Democratic governor of California, Gavin Newsom, criticized DeSantis for the flights in a tweet on Monday, calling him a "small, sad guy" and suggesting that the flights be charged as abduction.
DeSantis did not mention the migrant planes or Newsom's criticism during a roundtable discussion on the border on Wednesday, but he did criticize the so-called "sanctuary" states and localities on immigration.
"Those are the policies they've established," he stated. "And what follows? They all of a sudden get very, very unhappy about that when they have to deal with some of the results of that.
After seeing a group of refugees from the planes on Saturday, Bonta declared that his probe will be thorough.
Including the state of Florida and its workers, as well as any commercial organization, he added, "everyone engaged, everyone participating in the plot and the transfer of the 36 asylum applicants from El Paso to Sacramento with New Mexico in between."
Salazar has been looking into the first Florida-related migrant flight for months, even though Bonta and Newsom are the most well-known Democrats to bring up criminal charges as a potential counterpunch to migrant relocations.
"[DeSantis] kidnapped these guys from San Antonio, where I grew up. As a result, San Antonio was always going to have some sort of authority, and the sheriff recently declared that he was going to do a thorough inquiry, according to Rep. Joaqun Castro (D-Texas).
Our district attorney, in my opinion, will closely examine [the inquiry], and if DeSantis and his team were guilty of the crimes they are accused of perpetrating, the district attorney will bring charges against them.
The suggested charges, according to Salazar's office, include multiple instances of wrongful restraint, some of which are misdemeanours and others felonies.
San Antonio immigration attorney Gerardo Menchaca, who has counselled several of the migrants who have taken the flights, said he thinks the alleged deceit qualifies as abduction.
“It’s kidnapping if you lie to somebody to get them in the car with you and then take them to a place where it’s totally different than what you told them it was going to be,” he said.
"We're going to find you a job, we instructed these individuals to come on. There is also a claim that someone was informed, "We'll expedite your employment permit." Since kids are involved, that is abduction, and minors aren't even capable of giving their permission.
Reactions from Bexar County and California stand in contrast to those of some big-city mayors including New York City’s Eric Adams (D), who condemned the practice of shipping migrants north but also butted heads with the Biden administration over funding for new arrivals.
Republican strategist Ford O'Connell said, "Whether it's [former Chicago Mayor] Lori Lightfoot or Eric Adams, they turn around and say, "This is a stunt," and then they say, "We can't take any more."
"And the Western Governors step in when they declare they can't take much more. The Western Governors weren’t gonna say anything. This is their way of trying to stop the bleeding by turning the subject back on the Republicans, but when you look at the polling, more Americans are waking up.”
Polls on immigration issues generally show a deep partisan divide, though key polls have found large majorities of Americans disapprove of President Biden’s handling of the issue.
Many Democrats, though, push back on the Republican idea that disapproval of Biden’s handling of immigration equates to approval of hard-line policies such as migrant relocations.
“Democrats are rightly taking a stand on this because it’s disgusting,” said Kristian Ramos, a Democratic strategist.
“What’s particularly stupid about all of this is, in a general election, Democrats, moderate Democrats and independents are solidly pro-immigrant, so once the general election rolls around for these Republican candidate
