Migrants' trip to Sacramento aboard private jet appears to have been arranged by state of Florida, o

[ificandream]

Source: Los Angeles Times

More than a dozen migrants from South America who were recently flown on a chartered jet from New Mexico and dropped off in Sacramento were carrying documents indicating that their transportation was arranged by the state of Florida, the California attorney’s general’s office said Sunday.

The documents appear to show that the flight was arranged through the Florida Division of Emergency Management and that it was part of the state’s migrant transportation program, according to a spokesperson with the attorney general’s office who did not want to be identified.

The contractor for that Florida program is Vertol Systems Co., which coordinated similar flights that took dozens of Venezuelan asylum seekers from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts last year, the spokesperson said.

(snip)

The 16 migrants from Venezuela and Colombia were initially transported by bus from El Paso to New Mexico, where they boarded the flight to Sacramento, officials said. They were dropped off at the doorstep of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento on Friday.

Read more: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-06-03/california-investigating-who-sent-16-migrants-from-texas-to-doorstep-of-sacramento-diocese

[Deuxcents]

1. 🤬

[tanyev]

2. Florida tax money is being used to transport people between 2 states that are nowhere near Florida.

Between that and his war with Disney, DeSantis is throwing away gobs and gobs of Florida tax dollars. He should be investigated and impeached, not treated as a serious candidate for president.

[LoisB]

7. Yes.

[bluestarone]

3. Time to show Floridians how much of their money their stupid ass leader is spending

TOTAL AMOUNT!!

[onecaliberal]

22. At the same time hundreds of thousands are losing healthcare coverage.

[Historic NY]

4. Der Santis the Florida fh·rer

[Paladin]

11. EVERYBODY needs to start calling him "Der Santis."

It's a perfect fit.

[SilasSouleII]

16. I think it should be "Dee"

You know, short for his new pronunciation of his own name.

[William Seger]

47. Little Dee works (nt)

[BOSSHOG]

43. I think Ron has a masculinity problem

Does that boy whine and bitch at anything. And he shows chronic signs of fear of gay men and mice and ducks. Why is that lil Ron? How does that make you feel?

[screamcheese]

57. I've been thinking for some time now

Ron acts like a gay man in denial. You've read about these types, who are publicly extremely demeaning of the LGBTQ community, and subsequently exposed as molesters of young boys. So filled with self-hatred they project their cruelty on the most helpless.

[BOSSHOG]

64. If I were Ron Desantis I'd hate myself too

[bronxiteforever]

5. It also looks like a targeted attack against the Roman Catholic Church

and their support for immigrants and refugees.

[area51]

15. +1 n/t

[mgardener]

30. DeSantis

Is Catholic.

[bronxiteforever]

34. He is in a fight with the Catholic Church.

And I know and I hope you do that he pursues vendettas.

The Florida bishops recently condemned DeSantis, a Catholic, for signing a bill that would make it easier to impose the death penalty in the state. The bill eliminated the requirement of a unanimous jury when recommending a capital punishment sentence. The death penalty can now be imposed with only an 8-4 majority of the jury.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254474/florida-bishops-plead-with-desantis-to-spare-life-of-death-row-inmate#:~:text=The%20Florida%20bishops%20recently%20condemned,recommending%20a%20capital%20punishment%20sentence.

[ShazzieB]

42. Oh yes, vendetta is his middle name!

This feud with the Catholic Church explains a lot!

[wnylib]

31. They are not the only church that supports immigrants.

The Episcopal, Lutheran, and Presbyterian churches have immigration assistance programs. The Catholic and Presbyterian churches have migrant shelter missions in El Paso where they provide new asylum seekers with clothing, food, medical care if needed, and free assistance with completing asylum papers. They also offer free legal help from immigration attorneys that donate services to these organizations.

Those are the only church programs for migrants and immigrants that I'm familiar with, but I know that some other churches also offer assistance to immigrants and asylum seekers.

[bronxiteforever]

39. I didn't write or believe that the Catholic Church

is the only church that supports immigrants. You forgot Methodists. They also support immigrants.
However the Florida Catholic Bishops did condemn Desantis lately and I don’t believe he accepts criticism well.

Florida's Catholic bishops criticize DeSantis for lowering death penalty threshold

https://www.ncronline.org/news/floridas-catholic-bishops-criticize-desantis-lowering-death-penalty-threshold




https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254474/florida-bishops-plead-with-desantis-to-spare-life-of-death-row-inmate#:~:text=The%20Florida%20bishops%20recently%20condemned,recommending%20a%20capital%20punishment%20sentence.

[LoisB]

6. I KNEW IT!

[William Seger]

19. Yup, I guessed it was Little-d Santis when I read the headline (nt)

[LoisB]

38. Indeed. I think we had a little birdie singing De Santis, De Santis in our ears.

[dflprincess]

8. Because California doesn't share a border with Mexico?

I thought the point of these stunts was to "teach a lesson" to blue states that don't share that border.

All this proves is this is just another Republican policy where cruelty is the point.

[BumRushDaShow]

17. Exactly

But then these were the same people who made Colorado a "border state".

[DemocraticPatriot]

33. Colorado might want to build a wall on the north, east or western borders of the state,

to keep out the magats....

[BumRushDaShow]

37. LOL!!

[SouthernDem4ever]

41. Too late

they already re-elected Boebert.

[DemocraticPatriot]

44. She won by the tiniest margin-- and my hunch is that her Democratic opponent

who is challenging her again, will attract more 'national money' this time...


I think her days are numbered.

She is too stupid, even for Republicans... and damages their cause on a national basis...

The 'smart Republicans' realize that they would be better off with a Democrat in that seat,
for at least one term...

[SouthernDem4ever]

48. Now there's where we differ - I don't think there are "smart" Repuglicans

and unfortunately, Colorado, as with any state, has too many dumb ones.

[DemocraticPatriot]

51. I do not make an argument that there are many 'smart Republicans' LOL

but there are a few. The proportion is open to argument, of course---


but I almost predicted this response from someone, when I typed the words 'smart Republicans' LOL
Yes, they are hard to find...


Your point is well taken, and is certainly true regarding the majority of their party...

Where they are killing themselves is with the independents, which polls argue are close to outnumbering either established party
(at least in how these people prefer to describe themselves)...


I think BB will be defeated in the next election,
possibly by a tiny margin where she will claim "FRAUD", of course...

[Baitball Blogger]

9. Any Civil Rights lawyers looking for a Florida taxpayer that wants to sue the governor for this

abuse of power?

[dalton99a]

10. The Florida legislature gave DeSantis $12 million

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the special legislative session’s migrant relocation program bill into law.

Making the announcement that the bill was now part of the state statutes on Twitter, DeSantis said he signed the legislation to send “illegal aliens to sanctuary jurisdictions” to protect Floridians from the immigration policies of President Joe Biden.

The bill passed in the February special legislative session, on a largely partisan divide, was written to repeal and replace the less definitive program created in 2022’s fiscal year budget.

The program, a $12 million appropriation to move migrants without proper authorization,to other parts of the U.S. was used just once to fly nearly 50 individuals to Martha’s Vineyard, Mass. in September.

https://www.wfla.com/news/politics/desantis-signs-bill-expanding-migrant-relocation-program/

[groundloop]

13. So these sick motherfuckers have legalized kidnapping.

Or at least they think they have. I sincerely hope President Biden's administration will put an end to this bullshit.

I would think the contractor that did this could be charged with kidnapping, human trafficking, or some similar charge since these people were moved under false pretenses. And the same goes for whomever in Florida's government sanctioned this.

[Mysterian]

20. Yes, when is a federal prosecutor charging these criminals?

An insane governor is not allowed to kidnap people.

[DemocraticPatriot]

49. AMEN! There need to be legal consequences...

The smallest charge against them would appear to be "fraud"...

"Kidnapping" or "human trafficking" seems less provable, unless someone pointed a gun to their head...


but there need to be some kind of charges against someone....

may as well start with the 'contractor' who made false promises

[wnylib]

35. But DerSantis has no business butting his nose into migrants in Texas

and transporting them to other states. He is trafficking human beings across state lines who were never in his state.

[markodochartaigh]

12. Vertol Systems

https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/investigations/10-investigates/records-aviation-companys-gop-as-migrant-flights/67-ea9c7e37-1130-4887-b076-22a3db1ccdf9

The owner of Vertol Systems Co. contributed thousands in personal and company funds to PACs and campaigns supporting GOP candidates, according to OpenSecrets.org

[maxrandb]

18. I wonder what NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, NCAA teams, Corporations or celebrities use this charter service?

Seems that supporting kidnapping would be a bad business model.

[markodochartaigh]

26. Very occasionally corporations are

called to account for their support of right wing activities, but I doubt if those corporations lose much at all. It seems like oiligarchs supporting the reich wing, the majority of US citizens not really caring one way or another, and media which distracts more than it informs, all work together to make the situation very difficult to improve.

[Hekate]

14. DeSadist

[Sparky 1]

56. You nailed it!

[DownriverDem]

21. Notice

that migrants are not sent to Michigan? Maybe it's because the repubs want our votes in 2024. We need to increase our population and would welcome them.

[MichMan]

53. There isn't another census scheduled for several more years.

How would several dozen migrants moving from one state to another have any effect on voting?

[Probatim]

55. It would piss off lots of people who might vote for these jackasses.

California isn't a swing state - Michigan is. Get a few thousand independents pissed off at you isn't as much fun as thumbing your nose at a reliably blue state.

[justgamma]

23. I just don't understand

why he goes to other states to kidnap these people. Doesn't Florida have any of their own?

[Shipwack]

61. That wouldn't work. The Florida immigrant as are Cubans...

You know, "The Good Ones".

[AllaN01Bear]

24. id love to see deathsentance charged with human traficing.

[live love laugh]

25. "... spokesperson with the attorney general's office who did not want to be identified."

[Bristlecone]

27. I need to take one of my kids on some college visits

Maybe I can get the state of Florida to take us to MA and NY if I tell them we are immigrants. Private jets travel sounds nice. I’ll even bring my own snacks. Thanks FL taxpayers!

[Snarkoleptic]

28. Floridians (and all decent Americans) should be outraged

that Florida tax dollars were spent to traffic migrants from New Mexico to California.
All this for a political stunt.
Side note- This should be considered an in-kind contribution to the DeSantis' campaign.

[Biophilic]

29. Jesus F'ing Christ!! What is the point?

What do they hope to gain? And why is the state of Florida paying to transport people from Texas? It’s not just DeSantis. It’s all the “little” people along the way that supported this and made it happen. As a Floridian I want to scream. This is just F’ing crazy.

[Srkdqltr]

32. This is what the people there want.

[ancianita]

45. Where. California? New Mexico? Florida? Texas? Do the people of TX want the people of FL to pay

for removing TX immigrants? Have they been polled? Something about this claim doesn't add up.

[Srkdqltr]

52. Not all of them, of course. Sorry I was in a mood, had icecream and I m better now

[ancianita]

54. I still don't know who you refer to as "not all of them". It's why I'm asking you to specify, is all

Please. Don't be sorry. Just be clearer?

[DemocraticPatriot]

36. A different article on this subject that I read today states that they were promised jobs,

and all sorts of assistance to make the trip... (AGAIN)

(sorry I don't have a link, it was on my phone)

Someone needs to be in serious legal trouble over this, starting with the "contractor" and working its way up to the state of Florida and its fascist governor....


The word "fraud" comes immediately to mind, followed by several others...

[SouthernDem4ever]

40. I wonder if I can get a free flight to Hawaii from the state of Fla?

Been wanting to visit there but can't afford the airfare.

[C Moon]

46. DeSantis is a fucking spoiled child!!

[Mr.Bill]

50. I think it is wonderful that these asshole governors

are sending immigrants to the states where they will be treated far better and will find work to support themselves and their family. Even minimum wage in California ia more than double what it is in Texas. The immigrants will have a better life here than they will there.

[OneCrazyDiamond]

59. +1

And our businesses will have applicants in lower paying positions.

[Mr.Bill]

60. I lived in Silicon Valley in the 70s and 80s.

This is when a big wave of Vietnamese refugees arrived in the US, and heavily in my area. The government, both state and local, not to mention private organizations including churches gave these folks a lot of help and I literally know some of them who, in ten years, owned their own businesses and were homeowners.

[Rhiannon12866]

58. They're at it again, using migrants as pawns, from Texas via Florida to a city not expecting them

This time in California...

[Bernardo de La Paz]

62. What about sending sick family on a private jet instead of political stunts?

Surely there is some sick family that needs to fly for surgery for a child or some other humanitarian effort that merits spending state money?

But no, millions of TAXPAYER dollars for private jets for political stunts to support DeSantis disaster campaign.

[Picaro]

63. These people are refugees

These 16 people (yes, they’re people) are NOT migrants. They are refugees seeking sanctuary.

We all need to require the correct term when talking about them.

DeSantis is abusing refugees. Not illegal immigrants.

Using the correct words fundamentally changes the conversation.