California Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta accused the state of Florida and Governor Ron DeSantis of kidnapping illegal immigrants and flying them to Sacramento.
The Los Angeles Times reports that more than a dozen migrants from South America arrived in the Californian state capital on a chartered flight from New Mexico on Saturday (June 3).
In a statement regarding the matter, Bonta highlighted that while the arrival of Migrants was still being probed, he could confirm that the Migrants “were in possession of documentation purporting to be from the government of the State of Florida.”
Bonta added that while California continued to gather evidence, it was condemning the “State-sanctioned kidnapping,” describing the public policy choice as “immoral and disgusting.”
Newsom, who has slammed conservative governors, especially DeSantis, posted on Twitter that DeSantis was a “small, pathetic man,” adding that California wasn’t “Martha’s Vineyard. Kidnapping charges?”
In September, DeSantis arranged to fly 50 Venezuelan migrants from San Antonio to the Massachusetts resort island of Martha’s Vineyard as part of a $12 million Florida program designed to transport illegal immigrants to sanctuaries and oppose President Joe Biden’s border security policies.
Newsom provided a link and posted a screenshot of a section of California’s kidnapping ordinance that details how anyone who kidnaps or takes by force or deceives any person outside this state, contrary to the laws of the place where the crime is committed, and “conveys that person within the limits of this state, and is afterwards found within the limits thereof, is guilty of kidnapping.”
Bonta noted that the state was “investigating the circumstances” surrounding the migrants’ arrival in California and was “evaluating” possible criminal or civil actions against those who transported or arranged for the transportation of these vulnerable immigrants.
