Newsom Jabs at DeSantis Over Migrant Flights, Suggests ‘Kidnapping Charges’

A battle is erupting between Governors Newsom and DeSantis over planes full of migrants that arrived at Sacramento over the past few days, pitting the Democratic and Republican heavyweights against each other after previous sparring matches.On Monday, Mr. Newsom called Mr. DeSantis a “small, pathetic man,” adding, “This isn’t Martha’s Vineyard,” after two planes full of migrants arrived at Sacramento Executive Airport. “Kidnapping charges?” Mr. Newsom added.According to the Sacramento County director of public information, Kim Nava, the migrants were provided food and water and taken to a religious institution, where they were provided housing and other resources.It’s not clear that the flights were arranged by Mr. DeSantis. If they were, the funding for the relevant program expires on June 30, meaning more flights might arrive at other locales in the coming month.“My Administration is also working with the California Department of Justice to investigate the circumstances around who paid for the group’s travel and whether the individuals orchestrating this trip misled anyone with false promises or have violated any criminal laws, including kidnapping,” Mr. Newsom said.The details of how the migrants were recruited for the flight are unknown, though the California attorney general, Rob Bonta, did speak to KCRA3 about what his office has been able to tell from a preliminary investigation.“We learned that many of them didn’t know where they were being taken and didn’t know where they were until they arrived,” Mr. Bonta said.His office’s investigation also found that the flights were arranged through a private company with ties to Florida, Vertol Systems, and some were told that they would have help finding jobs if they got on the plane. Vertol Systems is the company that arranged the flights to Martha’s Vineyard from Texas last year. It’s not yet known how each of the 20 migrants who were on the plane were recruited for the flight. “I saw some people smiling, I think they were happy to be away from wherever they came from,” one witness, Steve Thompson, told NewsNation.The plane of migrants sent to Sacramento could be the latest antic from Mr. DeSantis, who flew migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, from Texas, via Florida, last year to antagonize the wealthy liberal community there, which also provided migrants with food and shelter before shipping them off to a nearby National Guard base.Since then, the Florida legislature set aside another $10 million for the “Unauthorized Alien Transport Program,” which could have funded the flights to California. The first plane arrived at Sacramento Friday “without any advance warning,” according to Mr. Newsom. The migrants were transported to New Mexico from Texas before being flown to Sacramento.The new arrivals at Sacramento come as a Texas sheriff who has been investigating Mr. DeSantis’s flights to Martha’s Vineyard announced that he was planning to recommend criminal charges relating to the flight.According to a statement provided to the Boston Globe, Bexar County’s sheriff, Javier Salazar, plans to bring felony “unlawful restraint” and potential kidnapping charges. Sheriff Salazar did not name a defendant in the statement. The Bexar County sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.This isn’t the first time that Messrs. Newsom and DeSantis have sparred over social media and in the press. Mr. Newsom toured Florida earlier this spring, taking jabs at Mr. DeSantis’s leadership.“Fifty years on voting rights, on civil rights, LGBTQ rights, abortion rights, contraceptive rights, all of that at threat, state after state, led by your state and your governor with a zest for demonization and othering people,” Mr. Newsom said. “He has one thing that is common with everything he’s doing — bullying and intimidating vulnerable communities.”In response, Mr. DeSantis said “everyone wants to talk about me and Florida,” adding, “until the last few years I rarely if ever saw a California license plate in Florida.”Neither Mr. DeSantis nor his office have publicly addressed the recent flights or responded to a request for comment.

Newsom Jabs at DeSantis Over Migrant Flights, Suggests ‘Kidnapping Charges’

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