Why did Ron DeSantis believe that flying 50 Venezuelan refugees, people who are here legally having been afforded asylum, to Martha’s Vineyard?
DeSantis is in a heated election for governor of Florida. One of the most reliably Republican voting blocs in Florida is made up of Cuban and Venezuelan immigrants. These particular Republicans are not going to be impressed by flying asylum seekers (just like Cubans and other Venezuelan Floridians once were) under false pretenses, treating them like cattle, or – as one person on Twitter noted, like prisoners on trains, human beings as chattel for a photo-op and political gain.
Now the migrants’ have top legal representation, and DeSantis may soon regret his actions. For once, DeSantis’s pursuit of MAGA perfection might have gone too far, even for the average Republican voter. From Miami’s ABC station:
The law firm representing 30 of the 48 migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard at the direction of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis asked Massachusetts and federal officials to open a criminal investigation into the incident on Saturday.
“Individuals, working in concert with State officials, including the Florida Governor, made numerous false promises to LCR’s clients — including of work opportunities, schooling for their children, and immigration assistance — in order to induce them to travel,” the attorneys wrote.
JUST IN: Attorneys representing migrants flown to Martha's Vineyard at the direction of Gov. DeSantis have asked officials to open a criminal investigation. https://t.co/FDJGkTtVsc [1] pic.twitter.com/fthdqPsaQR [2]
— WFLA NEWS (@WFLA) September 18, 2022 [3]
A baby. Just heartbreaking.
Though it’s unlikely that DeSantis would ever be charged with a crime (imagine charging both Trump and DeSantis), that doesn’t mean that DeSantis didn’t commit a crime and won’t be in some seriously hot water, even if the legal ramifications are limited to civil lawsuits. There is no reason to believe that the State of Florida is obligated to pay for DeSantis’s decision to take asylum-seekers out of Texas, bring them to Florida (for refueling), and then fly them to Martha’s Vineyard. One can argue that DeSantis exceeded his authority as governor and thus should pay any resulting lawsuits himself.
But the more fitting resolution would be having DeSantis lose his governor’s race in November, something that is more likely today than it was last week before the stunt.