Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday said he expects more flights to transport undocumented immigrants to out-of-state “sanctuary” communities, as questions continued to swirl about a pair of flights this week that sent about 50 people from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.
With support from other Republicans, DeSantis framed the controversial flights as a protest against the Biden administration’s handling of the Mexico border and as protecting Floridians from people transporting drugs into the United States. Florida lawmakers put money in the state budget this year for DeSantis to transport undocumented immigrants.
“There’s also going to be buses, and there will likely be more flights,” DeSantis said Friday afternoon during an appearance at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach. “But I’ll tell you this, the Legislature gave me $12 million. We’re going to spend every penny of that to make sure that we’re protecting the people of the state of Florida.”
The flights Wednesday mostly involved Venezuelan migrants and included about 10 children. Two planes went from San Antonio, Texas, to the Florida Panhandle community of Crestview before going north.
DeSantis’ decision to launch the flights spawned international headlines and drew harsh criticism from Democrats and immigrant advocates. President Joe Biden accused Republicans of “playing politics with human beings.”
“What they’re doing is simply wrong,” the president said at a Congressional Hispanic Caucus event Thursday evening. “It’s un-American. It’s reckless.”
Massachusetts Senate President Karen Spilka described the flights as “tantamount to a form of human trafficking for pure political games,” according to the State House News Service.
DeSantis’ office has not released full details of the flights, and questions continue about issues such as using Florida money to relocate migrants who had been in Texas.
DeSantis rejected as “false” reports that the migrants — who were moved Friday from Martha’s Vineyard to a military base on Cape Cod — were lured onto the flights in Texas with promises of housing and jobs.
“The folks that are contracted, not only did they give them a release form to sign, they actually gave them a packet. And in that packet included a map of Martha’s Vineyard,” DeSantis said. “So, it was obvious that that’s where they were going.”
According to FlightAware tracking, two Ultimate Air shuttles flew Wednesday morning from San Antonio to Crestview. One of the planes then stopped in Charlotte, N.C., and the other stopped in Spartanburg, S.C.. They then went to Martha’s Vineyard.
State records show that the Florida Department of Transportation on Sept. 8 made a $615,000 payment to Oregon-based Vertol Systems Company Inc., which has an operation in Destin, for “relocation of unauthorized aliens.”
The governor’s office did not respond to questions asking if or how the company was involved in Wednesday’s flights.
The money for Vertol came from the $12 million that the Legislature steered to the state transportation agency, at DeSantis’ request, for “the transport of unauthorized aliens from this state.”
Massachusetts officials and residents scrambled to provide accommodations for the migrants after they landed Wednesday.
Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins said she’s exploring how DeSantis sent the asylum seekers from Texas without notifying state and local government officials in Massachusetts.
“We are looking into that case, and we’ll be speaking with members of the Department of Justice,” Rollins told reporters Thursday, noting that Republican governors in Texas and Arizona have bused migrants to other places in the United States.
“We have several other sister communities, whether it’s D.C., New York, California, where we’ve seen things like this, and we’re hoping to get some input from the Department of Justice about what our next steps might be, if any at all,” she said.
Massachusetts immigration attorney Rachel Self told reporters Thursday that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security helped process paperwork for the migrants before they got on the flights to Massachusetts.
Self contended that agents falsified addresses on the migrants’ paperwork and listed homeless shelters throughout the country as their residences, including one migrant who was sent to Martha’s Vineyard with an address listed as a homeless shelter in Tacoma, Wash. The migrants were also given incorrect information about which federal agency to report to after they arrived in Massachusetts, which could lead to their removal from the country, according to Self.
“It is clear that this was an intentional attempt to ensure that these migrants were removed in absentia when they failed to change their address with a proper agency. This was a purposeful derailment designed to prevent people from complying with federal immigration policies,” Self told reporters Thursday. “It is sickeningly cruel.”
DeSantis called the process employed in the flights “voluntary.”
“I think that if the states could send, I would send back to Mexico or back to the home country. But here we are doing it voluntarily,” DeSantis said. “They signed a release. And then they get a packet.”
“They’re given a good ride. They’re given everything. And that’s just, you know, it’s a humane thing to do,” DeSantis continued. “What’s not humane is what Biden is doing. He’s giving a false promise that the borders open, luring people to come here for political purposes.”
Democrats have called moving refugees to other states immoral, while lambasting this week’s relocation of Venezuelans who have escaped the socialist Maduro regime.
Florida Democrat gubernatorial nominee Charlie Crist on Friday filed a public-records request to “force DeSantis to answer” for his actions.
“These people were fleeing, you know, socialist regimes, and then they’re treated like they’re still in a socialist regime by Gov. DeSantis,” Crist said during a campaign rally outside the Old Capitol in Tallahassee. “It’s shocking. It’s unbelievable. And he rails against that. Yet, he practices that himself. He’s an autocrat. He wants to be a dictator. He’s cruel. He’s mean. And he needs to go.”
Crist’s request included “any and all documents” related to the state’s migrant-transfer program, internal communications in DeSantis’ office about the program and communications related to the program between DeSantis’ office and the office of Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker.
–Dara Kam and Jim Turner, News Service of Florida
FlaglerLive relies on a strong core of donors. But they’re just a fraction of the 25,000 readers who daily depend on FlaglerLive for reliable, fearless reporting and analysis you cannot get anywhere else. If you’re still on the sidelines, we need you to join the Friends of FlaglerLive today. Elections, storms, the latest catastrophe - when dependable and factual local reporting will be more essential than ever, take a stand for integrity and have a direct voice in fostering serious journalism in your community. As little as $10 makes a difference, or better still, become a monthly donor: Become a "Friend of" FlaglerLive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit news organization. Donations are tax deductible. Think of it as buying a "scoop", in every sense of the term!
Reader Interactions
Comments
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Tony Mack says
So, Gov Ron DeSantis is all puffed up over what he imagines as owning the libs by paying an Oregon company, Vertol Systems, with an airport hangar office in Destin, Florida $615,000 to transport approximately 50 asylum-seeking immigrants from Venezuela to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. That’s at a cost to Florida taxpayers of $12,300 per refugee. Such brilliant political tactics, such a wanton waste of taxpayer funds — he somehow imagines the stunt will move him farther along his path to the White House.
The warm-hearted, welcoming, generous, caring people on Martha’s Vinyard responded with alacrity to help DeSantis’s human trafficking victims with food, temporary housing, clothing, and other necessities until they can be more permanently resettled. Thus, they provided a vivid counter-narrative to DeSantis’s stupid, hateful, petty political theater and set the stage for the huge backlash against him. But DeSantis never learns. Even as he was being exposed for poor judgement, wasting taxpayer dollars, and illegal human trafficking, he threatened there may be “more flights” to come.
Here’s the icing on the DeSantis crumb-cake: Vertol Systems brags that it “is the only civil company currently operating Russian helicopters in the United States. Vertol’s “CEO, James Montgomerie has donated $2700 to alleged child sex trafficker Matt Gaetz in 2016, and $5,000 to ‘North Florida Neighbors’ in 2017, a PAC set up to support Gaetz. Vertol Systems donated $7500 to North Florida Neighbors.”
In the lead-up to the midterms, Republicans have tried to distract from their unpopular stands on abortion, contraception, marriage equality, and so on, by hammering on the idea that the Democrats have created “open borders”; that criminal immigrants are bringing in huge amounts of drugs, especially fentanyl; and that Biden is secretly flying undocumented immigrants into Republican states in the middle of the night. Beginning in July, they began to insist that the country is being “invaded.”
In fact, the border is not “open.”
Fences, surveillance technology, and about 20,000 Border Patrol agents make the border more secure than it has ever been. That means apprehensions of undocumented migrants are up, with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recording more than 3 million encounters at the border since January 2021. Those high numbers reflect people stopped from coming in and are artificially inflated because many who are stopped try again. CBP estimates that about 27% of those stopped at the border are repeat apprehensions.
Although much fentanyl is being stopped, some is indeed coming in, but through official ports of entry in large trucks or cars, not on individual migrants, who statistically are far less likely than native-born Americans to commit crimes. And the federal government is not secretly flying anyone anywhere (although, ironically, DeSantis is); U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sometimes moves migrants between detention centers, and CBP transfers unaccompanied children to the Department of Health and Human Services. These flights have been going on for years.
The number of migrants to the U.S. dropped throughout Trump’s years in office. The Trump administration gutted immigration staff and facilities and then cut off immigration during the pandemic under Title 42, a public health order.
The Biden administration coincided with the easing of the pandemic and catastrophic storms in Central America, leading migration to jump, but the administration continued to turn migrants back under Title 42 and resumed working with Central American countries to stem the violence that is sparking people to flee. (In nine months, the Trump administration expelled more than 400,000 people under Title 42; in Biden’s first 18 months, his administration expelled 1.7 million people.)
The Biden administration sought to end Title 42 last May, but a lawsuit by Republican states led a federal judge in Louisiana to keep the policy in place. People arriving at the U.S. border have the right to apply for asylum even under Title 42. (From Various sources).
By the way…conducting these secret flights allowed DeSantis and his operatives to avoid any surveillance by the TSA…
Waste,fraud,abuse says
OK, it’s about time we solved this problem, so let us start at the beginning 1 .) People that come to our country illegally are breaking the law. If in fact we have a law that they are violating why are we not stopping the flow of illegals right then and there? Why would we put them on a bus, train, plane, and send them anywhere but back to their home country? Finish the wall, protect our borders, but then streamline the process for those that want to come here for a better life. We can figure this out , we the people, not the politicians! We need people here of all skill levels, so let’s put together programs that can help make that happen in a reasonable amount of time, without costing a small fortune, and give these people the opportunity that we have been so blessed to have.
Bell says
Excellent suggestion. We do have laws on the books. The only way they will currently be enforced is if the border states just ship them back to their homes. However, the feds would have a breakdown over that and it would result in a big mess so here we are.
Agree with you. It certainly would help curb the current drug crisis we have here right now also. Big sigh.
Common sense is lacking to say the least.
Bell says
Go Ron and Greg. Ole Joe has been dropping illegals all over for at least a year in the cover of darkness. Close the border-problem solved. Noticed Martha’s Vineyard screamed for the National Guard over 50 brown skinned people that were not there to scrub their toilets and removed them in less than 48 hours. Hypocrisy at its finest. 🤣😂
Been There says
Do you have factual references to back that up besides what you’ve been reading on Truth social?
c says
Don’t be silly… Facts? It is to laugh.
Bell says
Watch their behavior. It tells it all. Fifty people and they move them out in less than 48 hours while yelling for the national guard. Actions speak louder than words. The residents of MV showed their hand. No need to read the chatter on social media. Just open your eyes and watch. 😂🤣. Yep. Facts. Observe them.
Tired of it says
So you have no facts to back up your statements. That’s what I thought.
Kat says
DeSantis is a despicable, dangerous, excuse for a human being. Do you really think giving non-English speaking persons “packets” of information excuses or justifies His actions? Can you imagine having to flee the United States to a non-English speaking country and then get loaded on a plane and transported a couple thousand miles away and dumped off there?
With every single day, DeSantis does whatever he can, at whoever’s expense, to get his name in the headlines. All for the purpose of trying to garner support from the most fascist, authoritarian, racist, homophobic, misogynistic people in this country. God help us all, there seems to be a competition among far right dictator wannabes to see who can drag this country down the fastest.
Where is human decency? Thankfully, I saw some with the residents of Martha’s Vineyard. But it is sadly lacking in the Republican Party. It’s like I hear limbo music in the background singing how low can you go?
jake says
You are BLIND to reality, face the facts, you’re clueless
Dennis C Rathsam says
I guess its alright for Biden to send illegals all over the USA, in the middle of the night, for no one to see. But not if De Santis & Abbott do it in broad daylight? After all they are all santuary states, welcoming everybody….hmmmmm…Really?
Been There says
Hey, Did you know that Ron DeSantis is not Cuban American (like he says) and is actually of Italian descent? Did you know that in 1917 his Grandmother Collucci immigrated through Ellis Island and almost didn’t make it in because under the Immigration Act of 1917 she was considered undesirable because she couldn’t read. Luckily, Nona arrived three months prior to the law being passed.
Isn’t it funny that the immigrants that you spreading misinformation about being transported at night can’t be seen because its at night and not because you’re story is malarky?
Did you also know that sanctuary is spelled with a “c”?
Ray W. says
Thank you, Been There.
For the many gullible commenters out there, Florida has long had detention facilities, detention personnel, hearing officers and all the other infrastructure necessary to handle immigrants because of the large Cuban inflow over the decades. Since Congress funds the immigration infrastructure (and is not funding the building of new facilities in Texas) and since Florida is already equipped to handle large numbers of immigrants, it makes sense to fly immigrants from Texas to Florida, so they can be housed in already existing facilities.
jake says
Ron DeSantis has NEVER claimed to be a cuban american, you need to seek medical help.
For Real says
DeSantis doesn’t tell people this about his Grandmother came over from Italy. Unreal how untruthful he is. I wouldn’t vote for him to be a trash collector let a lone a governor or president.
Sherry says
Dennis you are wrong, as usual! To All Cult Members: Facts Matter! Here is the “Politifacts” analysis of this completely “garbage” claim:
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/mar/16/tyler-kistner/claims-biden-secretly-flying-immigrants-us-cities-/
DeSantis used our hard earned tax money of $615,000 to move 48 migrants from San Antonio, TEXAS to Martha’s Vineyard . . . what the hell! Now, the Texas sheriff is opening an investigation. . . take a good read of the actual FACTS:
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A Texas sheriff on Monday opened an investigation into the legality of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ recent move to fly dozens of mostly Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, an elected Democrat, said that while he could not cite specific laws that may have been broken by relocating the migrants, his office will be investigating what he called an “abuse of human rights.” The threat of criminal charges is an escalation against DeSantis amid widespread criticism from Democrats as the Republican governor promises to continue diverting migrants in Texas as a statement against Biden administration immigration policies.
“Somebody saw fit to come from another state, hunt them down, prey upon them, and then take advantage of their desperate situation just for the sake of political theater, just for the sake of making a statement,” Salazar told reporters Monday. “I believe people need to be held accountable for it to the extent possible.”
The DeSantis administration last week paid an aviation company $615,000 to transport some 48 migrants from San Antonio — located in Bexar County — to the elite vacation enclave in Massachusetts. The Republican-led Florida Legislature had approved $12 million this spring for moving migrants out of Florida to other states, something DeSantis is now capitalizing on as he seeks reelection this fall.
Here We Go Again says
Good maybe the federal government will finally secure the border
Lamo says
Why not speak about how fast they moved them out of Marthas Vinyard? How about Biden flying them everywhere else? I guess its only okay when the left does it…
Sherry says
@LMAO. . . How about getting your facts straight. The migrants were moved by the “Republican” governor of Massachusetts all the way from Martha’s Vineyard to Cape Cod in order to provide them with shelter and basic necessities:
“We are grateful to the providers, volunteers and local officials that stepped up on Martha’s Vineyard over the past few days to provide immediate services to these individuals,” Baker, a Republican, said in a statement. “Our administration has been working across state government to develop a plan to ensure these individuals will have access to the services they need going forward, and Joint Base Cape Cod is well equipped to serve these needs.”
Mercedes says
Democrat control has lead to the deterioration of the country in general and the rule of law specifically. People no longer respect other people. Democrats have taught people that its reasonable to commit violent crimes and that you will not be held accountable. Democrats have taught people to hate other races and religions. Democrats teach that others are responsible for your failures, and you should be provided for by other people. Democrats have taught people to ignore laws that you don’t agree with. Do you want to continue to live this way? Do you want criminals to invade your business your home? Vote Republican to end this now and throw out the criminal-loving Democrats.
Tired of it says
No, you have that turened around. You are talking a bout Republicans, spreading hate and divisiveness every day. Your blatant racism is in plain sight. I think Republicans, right up to the former president are the ones who think they can commit crimes and not be held accountable.
Sherry says
Mercedes. . . Please post FACTS to back up your completely ridiculous claims!
The dude says
615 large to move 50 people.
Wow… just wow.
That DuhSantis fellow really knows how to spend other people’s money.
Janet Sullivan says
The only way to stop this disgusting, vile man who just used your hard-earned tax dollars for this stunt is to Use The Power Of Your Vote to get him out of office. It’s the only way. Hoping the DeSantis- and Trump- appointed judiciary will stop the madness? Nope. Voting him out is the only way. Register, and vote November 8.
Mondexmomma says
Get over it Crist. People are fed up with what is going on….this fake administration take the ILLEGAL ALIENS and transports them in the dead of night via the same way Govenor DeSantis did in broad daylight. The only thing cruel is this administration not doing
anything about the crisis. These people are put in danger by the journey under false pretense the border is open and they will get a job…..that piece of crap in office now is ruining this country..Crist quit now.. you are going to lose. DESANTIS is the best Govenor in the nation. Crist you can’t even decide what party you are…which party are you going to be this time. You are just as fake as that clown in DC.
F says
Read facts first learn more from the years and what we stood for to begin with oh how bout the big picture
Jackson1955 says
Will there be accountability for the deliberate illegalities by all the bad actors? That’s the only thing that will stop this.
Desantis and the State of Florida are then guilty of immigration fraud, if they gave false documents or information related to migrants they shipped out of state. These are most likely felony charges and if they are true and the evidence proves such, a grand jury should be summoned to file charges in federal and state court.
If you believe that these people don’t belong in our country, then how does (illegally) shipping them to a *different* part of the country solve the problem? (Hint: It doesn’t.)
As usual, republicans aren’t interested in actually *solving* any issues, they just love to complain.
Jimbo99 says
So these are now DeSantis pawns, somehow that happened when Biden-Harris failed in the SW USA, California, Arizona & Texas borders ? And if the Biden is going to do airlifts, hotels, government subsidies for rent, food, healthcare, shouldn’t the illegals/refugees/dreamers & whatever else Biden reinvents the border crisis as, shouldn’t that distribution of diversity happen across the entire nation ? I mean I have at least 25 new homes in the residential here ? How many new constructions were built next to Joe Biden’s mansion, Pelosi’s properties, Kamala Harris residence, since we’re naming names ?
Let’s look at history, there never has been a time or shortage of human trafficking in the USA. Recall the politicians in California that weren’t paying their nannies fair wages, the Wal-Mart labor model. Let’s revisit 2021 alone, which POTUS made billion dollar payments to foreign governments for the sole purpose of caravan & immigration control ? That international aid still happening ? How far removed is that from human trafficking/(wage) slavery ? Is it any different than the human cargo of the Atlantic/Caribbean/Pacific human smuggling that goes on, whether it’s a government or some other operation ? Modern day Mayflowers (British), Nina, Pinta & Santa Maria (Spanish) or French colonization ? And Biden has never been shy about wrapping the USA flag around the border crisis, playing the USA national anthem as the audio track ? When scholars & academics selectively choose how to portray any of it ? 2021 was a banner year for GDP, the machine keeps on grinding the masses for the wealthiest as inflation creates and worsens poverty in this nation & world.
Just another perspective on the Democrat parties spin on their brand of leadership. Perhaps the most accurate of naked truth(s) on what really is the Biden-Harris regime/era for America.
Been There says
The federal government transports adult detainees in its custody from one facility to another, or from one U.S. city to another during deportation proceedings.
The vast majority of people on the flights are unaccompanied minors who crossed the border, requested asylum under immigration law, and are being released from federal custody to a parent or sponsor.
Some of these flights happen at night, but they are not covert operations. The same types of flights were done by the Trump administration.
Jane says
Anything for some publicity and to keep his name on the news. Cheap shot. Only wish we could put you on a bus out of FL!!!
Pat O says
Ken Burns makes a very compelling case comparing DeSantis actions of the past week to Hitler’s actions of the 30’s. Same “Protecting the citizens of Germany/Florida” explanation. Just a different defenseless group (Jews- Gypsies/Latinos). Following Hitler’s “Authoritarian Playbook” DeSantis is aiming for a dictatorship in our country with, of course, himself as the dictator. The Ken Burns article is too involved for a comment, but, if interested, google “Ken Burns DeSantis Hitler” for a full discussion.
Laurel says
Pat O: I agree. Hitler’s people told the Jews they were going to a workplace and transported them by train to the showers. DeSantis’ people lied to the immigrants as to where they were going and why, too. DeSantis could have used the $12,000,000.00 Florida taxpayers money set aside to help people in need in Florida. Instead, he used it as a political stunt for his own, selfish purposes, and as you see with some of the comments here, it works. Some folks seem to forget that Trump did not build the wall and make Mexico pay for it. I’m really sorry folks, but it makes DeSantis and Trump followers look extremely vulnerable to things that would actually have no effect on their lives.
Let’s see now. What do the Republicans stand for. What is their agenda, beside fear tactics? Again, let’s see how many times we can deflect here and bring up Biden, Crist and Harris. Deflection, the Republican way. They are desperate.
Rebecca says
Illegal immigrants have every right if not more of a right to live in the country. The Biden Administration should make sure these migrants get govt subsidized housing, food stamps, free healthcare and a monthly living expense. We need to encourage more illegal immigrants to come to this great state and we should make Flagler Beach and Palm Coast sanctuary cities.
feddy1 says
Lol, your joking right? Lets give them everything you stated but what about our own legal US citizens? why not them, how about our veterans? When I see you post your name and address stating that you are welcoming Illegals to move in with you then I will take your post seriously.
F says
Oh do you come from a 3rd world that has no water no food violence oh you at home on laptop but about the vets look up all the bills for vets that republicans voted against and for law and firefighters oh lets not forget the trillons the gave and made taxpayer money 1.9 trillion to the rich what bout them vets again
Marlee says
I am calling the DeSantis office tomorrow and ask when I can make a reservation on the next
Charter flight out of FL since I am paying for it.
(850) 717-9337
joe says
I’ve been registered as NP – No Party for many years… I’ll be changing to Democrat for many reasons….only one of them will be to vote for Charlie Crist. No matter what his policies may be, he is at least a decent man who cares for others.
DeSantis is nothing but a cruel, sadistic bully – a recent New Yorker article quoted many who knew DeSantis in college and his early career in politics. The two that stood out were:
“He was the biggest dick we ever knew.” and “He takes pleasure in humiliating and embarrassing people.”
Sound familiar? Remember, for the Republicans….the cruelty IS the point.
I Just Love Flagler Beach says
Sickening, shocking, unbelievable? These words hardly cover what I feel about Desantis actions. And our legislators gave him $12 million to do this?? As a Floridian I am ashamed of the stench this smears on our state. Spend that money in some positive way to help, not harm fellow human beings. What is wrong with our society that any one of us can cheer on such cruel behavior? Since we all know Desantis will “never back down,” it’s well past time to get rid of him.
Henry says
Great Idea! It would cost 1000 times more if they stayed here.
Laurel says
Henry: Do us a favor and drive down to the Miami business district and tell the Cuban American business owners that. Can I watch?
F says
Right lol he just racist it’s sad people forget what we stand for freedom
starryid says
This is a crisis that was created by the Biden Administration in January 2021 on his first day in office when he rescinded the policies that were in place. He immediately stopped construction of the wall (at a big $$ loss) and abolished the remain in Mexico program then proceeded to invite people into America – during the pandemic with no vaccine requirements. The administration thought they would discreetly fly the people who illegally entered the country to New York & Florida in the middle of the night. When this was discovered it was never an issue. Massachusetts, Illinois, New York and Washington DC do not have the facilities to accommodate this massive increase in population – but neither does Texas, Arizona or Florida. This crisis was created by the inept policies of Biden Administration on a federal level . I welcome any person regardless of color, religion or creed to come to America they must do this legally. I thank Governor DeSantis for bringing this the attention it deserves.
Tired of it says
You are factually incorrect. Spreading misinformation does not benefit anyone. Too many lies to counter all.
Laurel says
starryid:
1.) Where do you get your information?
2.) How does this effect you?
3.) Immigration is how America came about. Were you born yesterday?
jim morrison says
are you disputing the facts from above or the open border policy? estimated $30B per year for illegals in the US on a current go forward basis. how much would those $ help child poverty and education on current citizens
Anthony says
Florida has a governor that doesn’t know how to professionally work with President Biden to all come to a resolution of the immigration situation in our country. He prefers to pull a Trump stunt and use humans as his pawns. He used inappropriate funds to fly them out of state, when they were told when they arrived they would have a job, and a place to live.
Is this how a public servant handles a situation instead of working on a resolution to solve it. His actions are UnAmerican. Everyone has a ancetor from other countries including DeSantis.
He claims to be a christian but his actions do not display anything christian at all. He is showing voters he is not capable of being in public office and the polls will show that in the coming months.
herman says
I seemed to have missed the article entitled “Biden allows millions to enter the country illegally and ship some across the country at tax payers expense”. Since Flagler live is unbiased and strives to show both sides I am sure I just overlooked it. Could you post a link?
It’s also funny how quickly the illegals were rounded up and kicked out of the vineyard. Next thing you know those loving and tolerant liberals will be putting up a wall.
ArrestDeSatan says
So he’s committing human trafficking using my tax dollars? Hell to the no. What he did (and the story gets worse by the day) is very illegal. But then again he’s buddies with two sex traffickers (you do t ask for a pardon for sex trafficking crimes if you’re effing innocent, come on). The entire republican part is corrupt. Wanting to look at kids genitalia. Obsession with sex in general (and the sex that others have). It’s very very weird. There is a 37-page report of convicted pedophiles and sex offenders that are all Republican except for 2 Democrats out of thousands of Republicans (all former or current elected officials). Says all you need to know – the Republican Party is the party of pedos and pervs and fascists. Gross.
The ORIGINAL land of no turn signals says
All the money this state pisses away this is money well spent.Nobody complains about all the government flights with illegals to upstate N.Y. in the middle of the night.
Resident says
I’m a Florida taxpayer and I approve of this spending.
What Else Is New says
In the past, DeSantis has proven to be a cruel, cowardly, mean-spirited dictator. Presently, he is dealing in trafficking human beings. From Texas! Those individuals had requested asylum at the Texas border and awaiting interviews. The Governor used taxpayer funds meant for moving unauthorized aliens from this state. He has broken the law, lied about it, used double speak to explain and will probably escape liability. Ron DeSantis is evil incarnate.
Meredith Martin Davis says
This is evil. Same with Gov Abbott. Additionally its costing Texans $14 million every time they do this and just cost Floridian’s $12 million for the last group sent to Marthas Vineyard.
The dude says
Transporting people across state lines for gratification makes the MAGAts human traffickers, yeah?
Bill C says
Why doesn’t DeSantis send immigrants to Kansas, Tennessee, Nebraska, etc.? It’s obvious this is a political stunt from an immoral shrunken opportunist who is grasping at the presidency by any means. By the way, his forbearers immigrated from Italy and his last name translates into Italian as “of saints”. They would be ashamed.
C. J. says
Our county and city politicians cannot remember what “Green Space” meant and how it sold the concept of Flagler County and Palm Coast. Now they think it only means the green color of the Dollars that grease their hands. Did you vote for them?
coyote says
So, now our Mighty Midget has added human trafficking to his other P/R endeavors?
At the very least, the backgrounds coming out regarding this story make him complicit in illegal federal activities (the lady ‘Perla’ who supposedly lured these immigrants in the first place by lying about a job offer (illegal to offer to undocumented immigrants), lying about housing and life support.
Then the stories about the so-called ‘requirements’ placed on the immigrant to report to a) the WRONG federal office(s), and b) In many cases, to having to report in at locations impossibly far from the ‘destination’ of Martha’s vineyard. Certainly appears that the immigrants were being ‘set up’ to face immediate deportation by following the directions they were given.
(BTW, does this sound at all similar to the way the so-called ‘voter criminals’ here in Florida were setup by the state and locals to be arrested because they trusted the government to tell them if they weren’t eligible?)
And why was the flight path from Texas to Florida in the 1st place?
So many questions and so much publicity – and all on the FL taxpayer’s dime.
Edith Campins says
This is notthing more than a political stunt. These people are fleeing a Communist dictatorship, they meet the requiremens for political asylum. desantis is just tying to keep his name in the media. abbot and desantis had the option o flying them back to their county of origin., instead they took the opportinity to victimize and degrade fellow human beings. Shame on them.
space says
how is this any different than biden flying illegals to states in the middle of the night?
Sherry says
WRONG! Please do more than paste BS from FOX and check “Politifacts” before posting this kind of Garbage!
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/mar/16/tyler-kistner/claims-biden-secretly-flying-immigrants-us-cities-/
Marek says
It’s unbelievable that he can spend those money like that legally and to lie about the ” danger ” he is protecting us from.
Been There says
If DeSantis had half a brain, instead of spending FL tax dollars to go pick up immigrants and fly them to Massachusetts, he would have gone and picked them up and used money that is already appropriated to CareerSource to reskill and train workers to fill the huge labor gaps we are experiencing. Except then we’d hear all the crying from Republicans, “They’re taking our jobs.” Jobs that you don’t want. There are solutions that could work but that takes creative thinking instead of chest thumpping and back stabbing.
Tony Mack says
‘Ghost flights’ are the latest GOP effort to weaponize immigration ahead of midterms
June 20, 20227:01 PM ET
Heard on All Things Considered
Joel Rose
JOEL ROSE
From NPR
The number of migrant children crossing the southern border without their parents reached a record high last year — and the backlash is still growing.
Republicans accuse the Biden administration of organizing secret flights, carrying migrants from the border to communities across the country, that critics have branded “ghost flights.”
But that rhetoric is often at odds with the facts.
“It’s not secret, and it’s not new,” said Jennifer Nagda, policy director with the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, a non-profit that works closely with unaccompanied children.
When children and teenagers from Central America cross the border alone, the federal government is required by law to care for them until they’re reunited with a sponsor, often a parent or relative, or placed in a network of special shelters around the U.S.
To do that, federal officials sometimes fly those children on charter planes from the border to other parts of the country. For years, this was widely seen as normal, even routine.
Until it wasn’t.
With border arrests at the highest levels on record, Republicans see immigration as a potent line of attack in midterm elections this fall. And some are seeking to weaponize basic operations of the immigration system that had rarely attracted attention before — including flights carrying unaccompanied children around the country.
GOP lawmakers across the country have sounded the alarm about “ghost flights” filled with migrant children — claims that have been amplified by Fox News and other right-wing outlets.
“There’s no warning,” said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at a press conference last week. “It’s just in the middle of the night. And then you’ll wake up and someone will say, ‘they brought a bunch of unaccompanied minors.'”
But federal officials insist that these flights happened exactly the same way during previous administrations, including under former President Trump.
“This is completely consistent with the law and our responsibilities,” said Jorge Silva, a deputy assistant secretary for public affairs at U.S. Health and Human Services, in a statement. “Our legal responsibility is to care for unaccompanied children while they are on our watch, and that includes connecting them to vetted sponsors.”
Federal officials say that flights carrying migrant children happen at all hours, and that they don’t release information about the children on board to protect their privacy. Even the contractor operating the charter flights hasn’t changed since the Trump administration, they note.
What has changed is that the number of unaccompanied children crossing the border reached an all-time high last year, topping 100,000 for the first time. And immigrant advocates say the amount of fear-mongering about them is rising too, in a way that’s “really just divorced from reality and from facts,” Nagda said.
The rules about the treatment of unaccompanied migrant children have been the same for years — spelled out most recently in the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, which passed with strong bipartisan support and was signed into law by George W. Bush in 2008.
“This is part of a process established under a bipartisan law intended to treat children just a little bit more like the children that they are,” Nagda said.
By the time former President Trump was elected, some Republicans argued that the law was creating unintended consequences — and that human smugglers and cartels have learned to exploit it in order to get more migrant children into the U.S..
“It’s being abused for sure,” DeSantis said last week. “So what that has done is that has facilitated and incentivized putting these minors on this journey” from Central America.
Under DeSantis, Florida issued an emergency order earlier this year to stop licensing shelters that care for migrant children. At least one shelter operator in the state, Bethany Christian Services, said it would stop caring for unaccompanied children in Florida as a result.
Gov. DeSantis may stop Florida migrant shelters from caring for unaccompanied kids.
On Friday, DeSantis signed a law that blocks the state from doing business with air or bus carriers that bring undocumented immigrants to Florida, including unaccompanied children.
“What this bill does is it penalizes any of these contractors that the federal government is hiring to dump illegal aliens in our state,” he said at a press conference in Pensacola, flanked by law enforcement officials while standing behind a podium with a sign reading “Biden’s Border Crisis.”
When DeSantis was asked how many companies might be affected by the law, he didn’t offer an answer — but conceded that it’s “difficult” for the state to stop charter flights that are operated by federal contractors.
Immigrant advocates suspect the real point of the law is to help DeSantis win reelection this fall and run for president in 2024.
“It’s really unconscionable to me that kids would be used as pawns in a political fight” between Florida and the White House, said Nagda.
There are no “ghost flights,” she says. But the pushback against them is real. And the harm to migrant children could be, too.
JimBob says
Can you imagine how desperate a Venezuelan mother must be to bring or send her child to a country where Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis are viewed as decent people and are deemed suitable to hold high office? Both of them would have been leaders of White Citizens Councils in the 1960s.
Aj says
Just a question. If a crash happens while transporting these people who will foot the bill. I’m sure the Republicans will say the Dems should foot the bill. They will probably blame the Dems for the crash. I hope that will never happen.
feddy1 says
Who footed the bill for the 53 Illegals that were found dead in the trailer of a semi which was the result of Biden’s open door border policy.
Laurel says
feddy1: Okay, that was absurd, and I can’t let it go. If Biden has the “open door policy” that you claim, then 53 illegals would not have to be crammed into a truck container and die. Please, use some logic here, and if you did, you actually might see things differently.
feddy1 says
Ok Laurel I will use logic, research how many have crossed the boarder illegally since 2021, look month from month and see how that number has risen every month. So with a open boarder, or lets say a more leisurely boarder policy opens up for smugglers which is the case of the 53 who died in the tractor trailer. Most of these people want freedom and come for a better life, but do it legally. So Laurel have you contacted anyone and tell them you are willing to open your home up for as many of these illegals you can house? I am not against immigration, BUT DO IT LEGALLY.
Irwin M. Fletcher says
I’m not a fan of people pouring into our country, legally or illegally, when we can’t even take care care of our natural born citizens. But at the end of the day these people are still human beings despite how they got here. It’s shameful how many of you condone these actions. Your lack of empathy is disgusting. Using people as political pawns is unethical.
wow says
Ellis Island processed an average of 5,000 people per day.
A total of 12 million immigrants passed through the island between 1892 and 1954.
It is possible to handle waves of immigrants and it has been done in the past.
The “mess” at the border is a disaster of our own making. We need to edit the Statue of Liberty. I suggest “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free … as long as they are white Europeans.”
Laurel says
The following quote may be new to some of you, and DeSantis, and you probably won’t hear it on Fox Entertainment:
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
feddy1 says
I love that quote, I bet every advocate of allowing illegals to enter the US has this as a door mat or a sign on front of their homes, Martha’s Vineyard & Chicago talked a good game but what do both of those places have in common? They shipped them out with 48 hours to a different location.
Sherry says
Not to Confuse the CULT members with actual FACTS:
BOSTON — A civil rights law firm filed a federal class action lawsuit against Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday, accusing him of orchestrating a “premeditated, fraudulent, and illegal scheme” to fly dozens of migrants from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard.
The lawsuit, filed by the Boston-based Lawyers for Civil Rights, alleges that DeSantis and state transportation officials violated the migrants’ constitutional rights by coercing mostly Venezuelan asylum-seekers onto planes in Texas to the island through “false promises and misrepresentations.” It also accuses DeSantis of inappropriately using federal coronavirus relief funds to pay for the flights.
The Geode says
Maybe he should have just sent them back. Then what?
Laurel says
Geode: They were here legally.
Charles says
The Republican party is now going to be charactorized as the INHUMANE PARTY. There was even a problem at the border when #45 was in office and his solution was taking children away from their parents some of not be reunit as of today. CRUEL. Wouldn’t it be professional if both parties could sit together and come up with a soution. Not the Inhumane party they don’t work with the other side instead they only care about bowing down to a loser because they are too weak to stand up to him for their own country.