California AG Bonta demands records from Florida officials on migrant flights to Sacramento
SACRAMENTO — California's top cop is demanding records from Florida to see if the state broke laws in what he calls the "deceptive" and "immoral" decision to ship three dozen migrants unannounced on two separate flights to Sacramento earlier this month.
Community groups are watching over the 36 who showed up at Sacramento Executive Airport earlier on June 2 and 5. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis admitted the state paid for the flight to Sacramento, which is a sanctuary city.
In a statement, California Attorney General Rob Bonta wrote that the request for records represents an "urgent need for a thorough investigation." The statement reads, in part:
"These letters represent our commitment to transparency and justice. We need to understand the circumstances that led to the implementation of this operation – which was apparently paid for by Florida taxpayer dollars – and the decisions and directives that led to this questionable act. The information gathered will be crucial in determining whether the law has been violated and, if so, what subsequent steps are required to prevent such disregard for human rights from recurring."
Some of the documents Bonta is looking to obtain include:
- Communications or instructions between Gov. DeSantis or the state's Division of Emergency Management and the state's Department of Transportation or any private entity involved in the transports
- Communications or instructions between those offices and any of the migrants
Today my office submitted records requests to Governor DeSantis and the Florida Division of Emergency Management as part of our investigation into the conditions under which a number of migrants seeking asylum were brought into California. https://t.co/tv4BPu49wM
— Rob Bonta (@AGRobBonta) June 14, 2023
The two flights transported the asylum seekers from Texas to New Mexico, and then to Sacramento. The June 2 group was dropped off at the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento with documentation from Florida's Voluntary Migrant Transport Program.
On June 6, a day after the second flight arrived, Florida officials released video of the flights saying it refutes claims the asylum seekers — who were mostly from Colombia and Venezuela — were transported against their will.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom indicated after that second flight that the state may consider kidnapping charges against DeSantis. Bonta had said that all charges were on the table.
The attorney general said the documents requested on Wednesday will be crucial in determining if any laws were violated.