Florida authorities confirmed to AFP on Tuesday that they arranged for migrants to be airlifted from Texas to California last week and this Monday.
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The civil protection service of this state in the southeastern United States assured in a press release that the two groups of migrants had made this trip “voluntarily”.
The company tasked with transporting the migrants entrusted them to Catholic Charities, Florida officials said, adding to their press release a video showing people smiling, pen in hand, reading documents and assuring them that they are fine was treated .
Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential election, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, has for several months been pursuing a policy of relocating migrants to democratic states in protest at Democratic President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.
In particular, he claimed last September that 48 migrants were flown from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard Island, a popular vacation spot for American high society in Massachusetts (northeast).
Mr. DeSantis later signed into law in February allowing his administration to transfer illegal migrants to another state, even if they live outside of Florida.
The first group of migrants from Colombia and Venezuela arrived in Sacramento, the California capital, on Friday, and the second group, mainly from Venezuela, landed on Monday, according to the American press.
The Democratic governor of California on Monday voiced his outrage at the practice and threatened Ron DeSantis with legal action for “kidnapping.”
“Ron DeSantis, pathetic little man,” Gavin Newsom tweeted. “This isn’t Martha’s Vineyard. Charges of kidnapping?” he added, along with a screenshot from a California state legal department on kidnapping.
“Relocating those illegally crossing the border into the United States is nothing new to the progressive mayors of El Paso, Texas, and Denver, Colorado. But when Florida sends illegal migrants to a city of refuge, they are falsely accused of detention and kidnapping,” the Florida Emergency Management Service defended.