Ron DeSantis, the Republican Governor of Florida, issued a response this past Monday evening to the claims made by one Texan Democrat sheriff who stated as part of a press conference earlier that same day that his office was going to launch a probe into the relocation flights set up by DeSantis which flew 50 illegal migrants out to Martha's Vineyard late last week.
DeSantis stated to Sean Hannity, a host for Fox News, that the vendor who had been contracted by the state of Florida issued information packets to the illegal aliens that contained a map of the area around Martha's Vineyard and contact information for different services across the island and that the flights were voluntary.
"Millions of people since Biden has been president illegally coming across the southern border. Did they freak out about that? No," stated DeSantis. "You’ve had migrants die in the Rio Grande. You had 50 die in Texas in a trailer because they were being neglected. Was there a freak out about that? No, there wasn’t."
"You’ve had criminal aliens get across that southern border, and victimize Americans, killing some, raping some, was there any type of outrage about that? No," continued the governor. "And then of course, we know fentanyl deaths are at an all time high. Where’s that fentanyl coming from? It’s coming over the open southern border."
Speaking out about the specifics of how the flights took place, DeSantis stated that the illegal immigrants "all signed consent forms to go."
"And then the vendor that is doing this for Florida, provided them with a packet that had a map of Martha’s Vineyard, it had the numbers for different services on Martha’s Vineyard and then it had numbers for the overall agencies in Massachusetts that handle things involving immigration and refugees," explained DeSantis. "So, it was clearly voluntary, and all the other nonsense you’re hearing is just not true."
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar issued the claim that the migrants were "lured" into agreeing to the flight, even though a publication from Florida issued a report stating that they had gotten a copy of a pamphlet handed over to the illegal immigrants that explained that Massachusetts was going to be their end destination. He did not issue the names of any suspects and admitted that he could not actually name any laws that had been broken.
"That does tend to bother me quite a bit," stated Salazar. "And so we are absolutely opening up an investigation into this."
"I believe people need to be held accountable for it to the extent possible," he stated. "At this point, I’m not able to definitively say here’s the statute that they broke either federal, state or local. But what I can tell you is it’s wrong just from a human rights perspective, what was done to these folks is wrong."
One spokesperson for the governor issued a response to the comments from Salazar by claiming, via a statement: "Immigrants have been more than willing to leave Bexar County after being abandoned, homeless, and ‘left to fend for themselves.’"
"Florida gave them an opportunity to seek greener pastures in a sanctuary jurisdiction that offered greater resources for them, as we expected," concluded the spokesperson. "Unless the MA national guard has abandoned these individuals, they have been provided accommodations, sustenance, clothing and more options to succeed following their unfair enticement into the United States, unlike the 53 immigrants who died in a truck found abandoned in Bexar County this June."