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| California Attorney General Rob Bonta suspects Florida may have broken California law when South American asylum seekers were transported to California from Texas. |
Gloves are off in the brewing brouhaha between California and Florida. It is Blue state vs Red state. Conservative vs Progressive. Republican vs. Democrat. Gavin Newsom vs. Ron DeSantis.
California is investigating to see if Florida broke any laws by transporting migrants from Texas to California June 2, Friday.
When a chartered jetliner flew 16 legally documented migrants from Colombia and Venezuela and dropped them off in Sacramento, California's state capitol, someone was making a deliberate political statement. California Gov. Gavin Newsom and his Attorney General, Rob Bonta, aim to find out who was behind the act.
Since the initial batch of migrants were brought to Sacramento, another planeload of migrants were flown in yesterday (June 5).
“We are investigating the circumstances by which these individuals were brought to California," said the Filipino American AG. "We are also evaluating potential criminal or civil action against those who transported or arranged for the transport of these vulnerable immigrants. While this is still under investigation, we can confirm these individuals were in possession of documentation purporting to be from the government of the State of Florida."
"State-sanctioned kidnapping is not a public policy choice, it is immoral and disgusting," Bonta stated.
The migrants, who were legally processed in Texas and assigned court dates for their asylum hearings, had no idea what awaited them in California, according to the migrants.
A spokesperson for Florida's Division of Emergency Management, Alecia Collins, admitted that Florida helped arrange the flight from Texas. In a statement released Tuesday, he said, "Through verbal and written consent, these volunteers indicated they wanted to go to California."
"Through verbal and written consent, these volunteers indicated they wanted to go to California. A contractor was present and ensured they made it safely to a 3rd-party NGO (non-governmental organization)," said Collins. "The specific NGO, Catholic Charities, is used and funded by the federal government."
A video provided by the Florida agency showed how the migrants were informed about California and them signing waivers, apparently without any coercion.
After landing in Sacramento, the young men and women were dropped off Friday outside the office of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento with only a backpack’s worth of belongings each.
That's not what they told the California officials who interviewed them. “They were lied to and intentionally deceived,” said Eddie Carmona, campaign director at PICO California, a faith-based community group that has been assisting the migrants.
The diocese apparently was not informed ahead of time about the migrants' arrival. However, diocese staff acted quickly to feed them and find temporary housing. Miriam Sammartino, the diocese’s director of Catholic Charities and Social Concerns, told Crux that the agency was shocked and surprised at the arrival of the migrants.
The act was heartbreaking, said Sammartino, especially considering it appears that Sacramento wasn’t the migrants’ final destination, nor was it on the way to where they intended to go after they were processed at the border. A few of them needed to get to San Diego and Chicago, she said.
“I don’t believe the migrants themselves even understood that they were being brought to Sacramento,” Sammartino told Crux.
There is no love lost between the progressive Newsom and DeSantis, who is a Presidential candidate for the GOP nomination.
Newsom has strongly criticized DeSantis' so-called anti-"woke" policies on reproductive rights, voting rights, LGBTQ rights and banning of books in schools that mention racism or gay lifestyles.
After meeting with the first planeload of migrants, an angry Newsom sent out a tweet saying, “This isn’t Martha’s Vineyard. Kidnapping charges?” wrote Newsom referring to the first instance when "someone" paid for migrants transported from Texas to the Massachusetts resort island.
In the same tween, Newsome called DeSantis a "small and pathetic man." and included a screenshot of a section of California penal code, stating that:
“Every person who, being out of this state, abducts or takes by force or fraud any person contrary to the law of the place where that act is committed, and brings, sends, or conveys that person within the limits of this state, and is afterwards found within the limits thereof, is guilty of kidnapping.”
"We are a nation built by immigrants and we must condemn the cruelty and hateful rhetoric of those, whether they are state leaders or private parties, who refuse to recognize humanity and who turn their backs on extending dignity and care to fellow human beings," said Bonta.
"California and the Sacramento community will welcome these individuals with open arms and provide them with the respect, compassion, and care they will need after such a harrowing experience.”
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