DeSantis administration takes credit for sending migrants to California, sharing video of them dancing and saying 'Thank you'
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- Ron DeSantis' administration admitted it was behind the migrant relocation flights to California.
- Until now the Florida governor and 2024 president candidate has been mum about the trips.
- The agency behind the program shared an edited video of the migrants celebrating a trip.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration confirmed it's behind the recent flights sending migrants from Texas to California — and insisted that the trips were all voluntary and the immigrants were treated well.
"Through verbal and written consent, these volunteers indicated they wanted to go to California," Amelia Johnson, the deputy director of communications and external affairs at the Florida Division of Emergency Management, told Insider.
Johnson said a contractor "ensured they made it safely" to Catholic Charities, a nongovernmental agency. The charity did not immediately reply to inquiries from Insider to confirm or deny its involvement.
Until now, Florida authorities have been mum about the flights, the first of which landed in Sacramento, California, on Friday and the second of which landed at the airport in on Monday. Migrants who were on the first flight were driven to a Catholic church.
DeSantis held a bill signing on Tuesday, but uncharacteristically did not take questions from the press afterward.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management shared a 2-minute-20-second-long video with Insider of migrants the agency said boarded the flights.
Video and photos showed the apparent migrants filling out paperwork, riding what seemed to be a party bus, boarding a charter plane, giving thumbs up, celebrating, and saying they were "treated super well" and thanking someone off-screen.
It's unclear when the videos and photos were taken, and which of the two flights was represented.
A migrant had told The New York Times that men and women approached him at an El Paso, Texsas, shelter and asked if he wanted to go to California. He added that the group told him no one was obligated to go.
"I don't know what is their motivation to organize these trips," the immigrant told the Times. "I don't know if it's political or part of the government. They didn't tell us anything."
Florida's emergency management agency provided Insider with a table that listed other government officials who had relocated migrants, including Republican Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas and Democratic Mayor Eric Adams of New York City.
"The relocation of those illegally crossing the United States border is not new," Johnson said. "But suddenly, when Florida sends illegal aliens to a sanctuary city, it's false imprisonment and kidnapping."
Her comment was referring to remarks Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California and the state's attorney general, Rob Bonta, made. Newsom floated the idea of pressing "kidnapping charges" against DeSantis by invoking a section of the criminal code that penalizes people who forcibly bring people into "the limits of the state."
Sacramento is the capital of California and the city from which Newsom governs. California's governor is a prominent figure in the Democratic Party and a policy foil to DeSantis who frequently criticizes him.
After Florida officials took credit for the flights on Tuesday evening, Newsom's office released a statement calling the video of the migrants "exploitative propaganda being peddled by a politician who has shown there are no depths he won't sink to in his desperate effort to score a political point."
The migrant relocation flights are paid for with $12 million in Florida taxpayer dollars. In recent weeks, DeSantis also expanded restrictions on undocumented workers in Florida.
DeSantis acknowledged in September that his administration orchestrated another plane carrying 49 migrants from San Antonio, Texas, to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. It's something he brags about frequently on the 2024 campaign trail, accusing Democrats of vitue signalling on illegal migration while being unwilling to assist in aid.
He also used the stunts to criticize President Joe Biden for turning a "blind eye" toward the issue.
DeSantis is scheduled to go to Sacramento for a fundraiser on June 19, according to the Sacramento Bee. He has promised that if elected president, he would resume building a border wall between the US and Mexico and reinstitute the "remain in Mexico" policy, which requires migrants to wait across the border until their asylum cases can be heard.
DeSantis is the top 2024 nomination rival to President Donald Trump, whose hard-line, anti-immigration rhetoric and actions whipped up his base and led to numerous lawsuits and public backlash.