A second flight allegedly sent from Florida dropped off about 20 migrants in California on Monday.
The first flight was on Friday, when 16 migrants from Colombia and Venezuela arrived in Sacramento on a plane charted by Florida-based aviation company Vertol Systems Co. California officials believe that the same company orchestrated the Monday flight. Tara Gallegos, spokeswoman for California Attorney General Bonta, told NBC San Diego that this is her assessment.
The 16 migrants from South America traveled from Texas to New Mexico, where they boarded the flight to California. They had documents in their possession that purported to be from the government of Florida, Bonta said in a statement. The documents indicated that they were transported through a program run by Florida’s Division of Emergency Management.
“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,” Bonta said of the weekend flight, on which he said his office is conducting an investigation. “While we continue to collect evidence, I want to say this very clearly: State-sanctioned kidnapping is not a public policy choice, it is immoral and disgusting.”
About 20 migrants traveled on the Monday flight, which also landed in Sacramento, NBC noted.
“We are investigating the circumstances by which these individuals were brought to California,” Bonta said. “We are also evaluating potential criminal or civil action against those who transported or arranged for the transport of these vulnerable immigrants.”
Florida has hired Vertol Systems before as part of the DeSantis administration’s migrant-relocation program, which has sent illegal immigrants to various so-called sanctuary-state destinations around the country to raise awareness about the border crisis. Last year, Florida paid Vertol Systems $1.56 million for the flight from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard that carried about 50 migrants, NBC said. The action triggered a media uproar, with progressives decrying it as a political stunt and as exploitation of vulnerable asylum-seekers.
In February, the Florida legislature passed a measure expanding DeSantis’s migrant-relocation program, funding it with an additional $10 million. Texas’s Governor Greg Abbott has also sent thousands of migrants to progressive cities, such as New York City, Chicago, and Philadelphia, mostly on buses. In mid May, Texas delivered another busload of illegal immigrants to the home of Vice President Kamala Harris in Washington, D.C. After a brief pause in the busing, Abbott resumed the drop-offs once Title 42 expired. Title 42 was the Trump-era Covid-19 policy that allowed border personnel to expel illegal immigrants as a means of preventing the spread of communicable diseases.