Florida officials have released a statement clarifying that migrants flown from the southern border to California signed waivers and gave consent to be transported, addressing accusations from Governor Gavin Newsom (D., Calif.) that the state had kidnapped migrants.
In response to the migrants being moved to California, Newsom took to Twitter to accuse Florida governor Ron DeSantis (R.) of kidnapping. He later released a statement announcing that the California Justice Department had opened a criminal investigation into the transportation of the migrants.
A spokeswoman for the Florida Division of Emergency Management said that "through verbal and written consent, these volunteers indicated they wanted to go to California." The state released a video showing migrants celebrating as they were moved to California and telling immigration officials that they had been treated well. Government officials coordinated with Catholic Charities to ensure the migrants were cared for when they arrived.
This isn’t the first high profile instance of Republicans sending migrants to sanctuary cities and states. Last year, Florida sent planes carrying illegal immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard, an affluent liberal community in Massachusetts.
"States like Massachusetts, New York and California will better facilitate the care of these individuals who they have invited into our country by incentivizing illegal immigration through their designation as ‘sanctuary states’ and support for the Biden administration’s open border policies," a spokeswoman for the state of Florida said at the time.