On October 12, 2022,
Treasury Department IG probing DeSantis’ migrant flights
The agency’s inspector general’s office confirmed to several members of Massachusetts’s Democratic congressional delegation that it planned “to get this work underway as soon as possible” to probe Florida’s spending as part of ongoing audits into how states have used the billions in sent to them as part of the American Rescue Plan, according to a letter provided by Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey’s office.
More: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/10/12/desantis-migrant-flights-markey-00061370
You read that right: Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis must be investigated for human trafficking and for violating federal immigration law. On Wednesday, DeSantis may have violated federal law by using over $600,000 in taxpayer dollars to lure 50 Venezuelan asylum seekers onto a flight to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. When they arrived, many asked, “Where am I?” They were intentionally deceived and told that they would be given housing and jobs, and were put on a plane with nothing but a brochure. It’s absolutely inhumane.
Families, including children, were transported across state lines under false pretenses. This was a premeditated effort targeting vulnerable people simply seeking a better life. And it is completely reprehensible. The time to investigate Ron DeSantis is NOW.
This is not an isolated incident, either. Republican Governors like Greg Abbott are also cruelly sending migrants across the country. And Republicans across the country have shown no signs of stopping their cruel, anti-immigrant agenda. In fact, after opposing President Biden’s coronavirus recovery package, DeSantis allocated $12 MILLION of interest earnings from the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund to implement this discriminatory state program which removes and transports undocumented people outside the state of Florida, with no regard to their safety or wellbeing.
Massachusetts officials had no idea that Ron DeSantis was sending 50 people either. So when they arrived, they had to walk over two miles to find a community center that could help them.
Why is this important?
Families, including children, were transported across state lines under false pretenses. This was a premeditated effort targeting persons by national origin.
It’s shameful that instead of treating asylum seekers with the love, dignity and care they deserve, Republican Governors like Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott are exploiting them and using them as political pawns.
Families, including children, are being transported across state lines under false pretenses. Immigrants are being treated inhumanely. These are not isolated incidents. They are deliberate actions relentlessly carried out by anti-immigrant Republicans/politicians. It’s completely unacceptable and it needs to end now.
Republicans want to divide us by demonizing immigrants. But no one is illegal on stolen land. And immigrants deserve to be welcomed and treated with dignity, love, and care. Together, we can keep fighting for immigration justice including a pathway to citizenship for undocumented folks.
How it will be delivered
