A Texas sheriff’s department has recommended that the district attorney in Bexar County bring criminal charges over the first iteration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ so-called migrant relocation program. Those flights last September sent 49 asylum seekers, most of them Venezuelans, from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
According to a statement provided to the Miami Herald, the Bexar County sheriff completed its criminal investigation into the on-the-ground operation that allegedly lured migrants onto the flights with false promises of jobs and opportunities on the other end.
“The case filed includes both felony and misdemeanor charges of Unlawful Restraint,” according to the statement. “At this time, the case is being reviewed by the DA’s office. Once an update is available, it will be provided to the public.”
It’s now up to the DA’s office to decide if they will follow the sheriff’s recommendation and press charges.
And in Other Disgusting DeSantalini News:
On Friday, a chartered plane arrived in Sacramento, CA operated by Texas-based Berry Aviation, according to flight records compiled by The Sacramento Bee, dropped off 16 migrants from Venezuela and Colombia on the doorstep of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento.
If that wasn’t disgusting enough, the human traffickers/kidnappers/malcontents AKA: Ron DeSantanlini sent another plane to Sacramento on Monday with 20, adult migrants. Sixteen were from Venezuela, two from Colombia, one from Nicaragua and one from Mexico, according to Attorney General Rob Bonta.
Both AG Bonta and Governor Newsom believe both flights were arranged by the state of Florida and its governor, Ron DeSantis.
“Two of the men who were on the chartered flight on Friday were on the chartered flight today,” Bonta said, adding that he believes the pair work for Vertol Systems Company — the organization behind a similar flight that transported nearly 50 mostly Venezuelan asylum seekers from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, last year.
Statement from AG Bonta:
SACRAMENTO — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today issued the following announcement regarding migrant arrivals in California:
“Today I met with over a dozen migrants who were brought to Sacramento by private plane, with no prior arrangement or care in place,” said Attorney General Bonta.
“We are investigating the circumstances by which these individuals were brought to California. 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. 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. 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. 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.”
Excerpts from the Sacramento Bee Editorial Board:
The act of shipping humans across state lines under false pretenses is akin to state-sanctioned kidnapping. It is reprehensible and it demonstrates how sick American political discourse has become. It would not be the first time DeSantis has been behind such a ploy to ship foreign immigrants to another state.
DeSantis has already been named as the perpetrator behind a similar incident in September of last year, when approximately 50, primarily Venezuelan, asylum seekers were flown from San Antonio, Texas, to the island of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. The New York Times found that the migrant flight program instituted by DeSantis has cost Florida taxpayers at least $1.5 million so far.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and DeSantis have been hurling political insults at each other for months. DeSantis is coming to Sacramento soon for a fundraiser, an unlikely move by a Republican presidential aspirant with no virtually no chance of ever carrying such a blue state. Perhaps DeSantis is firing back at Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has visited Florida and trolled DeSantis repeatedly.
But in this case, human lives are the pawns and the city of Sacramento became the arena to further this juvenile, jockeying game for the White House.
There is no doubt that there are people in California and even in Sacramento who would applaud DeSantis or anyone else for shipping these migrants to Sacramento. But this is a minority view in California.
