Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis confirms sending Latin American migrants to Sacramento

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office confirmed Tuesday that it was responsible for the two recent flights that brought Latin American migrants to Sacramento, saying that the 36 asylum seekers consented to the trips.

In an email to The Sacramento Bee, DeSantis spokeswoman Amelia Johnson wrote that “Florida’s voluntary relocation is precisely that — voluntary.”

“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. The specific NGO, Catholic Charities, is used and funded by the federal government,” Johnson wrote.

The Bee first reported the flight of 16 migrants from Venezuela and Colombia by private chartered plane to Sacramento on Saturday. On Monday, 20 more migrants were flown to California’s capital.

California officials quickly pointed the finger at DeSantis after the first flight arrived, but Tuesday’s statement was the first time the Florida governor and Republican presidential candidate confirmed his administration arranged them.

The DeSantis Administration shared a link to a Rumble video purporting to show the migrants signing waivers and boarding the plane to California. It is not clear when or where the videos and photos were taken, who took them or who put together the video montage. It also does not identify the people who speak or whose faces are shown in the video. The Bee was unable to immediately independently confirm its veracity.

In her statement, Johnson said that “left-leaning mayors in El Paso, Texas, and Denver, Colorado,” have relocated migrants in the past but that when Florida does the same thing, “it’s false imprisonment and kidnapping.”

Johnson was referring to California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s vow to criminally prosecute whoever was responsible for sending the migrants, a threat that legal experts called political posturing.

A Newsom spokesman said Tuesday that DeSantis was the one posturing.

“This is exploitative propaganda being peddled by a politician who has shown there are no depths he won’t sink to in his desperate effort to score a political point,” Anthony York said in a statement. “Gov. Newsom said it best. The Florida governor is small and pathetic, and this video is just another reminder of that.”

DeSantis, who is seeking the Republican nomination to run for president in 2024, has sought to position himself as tough on immigration. Earlier this year he sent a plane full of migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., prompting Newsom to call DeSantis “America’s chief bully.”