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Saturday, September 17, 2022 10:29:29 PM
Scrutiny mounts over DeSantis’s use of state funds for migrant flights
By Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff, Maria Sacchetti and Lori Rozsa
Updated September 17, 2022 at 3:49 p.m. EDT|Published September 16, 2022 at 11:13 a.m. EDT
Ricardo Gallardo, center right, of Venezuela, is welcomed by Martha’s Vineyard resident Rebecca Mandelli,
center left, outside St. Andrew's Episcopal Church on Martha’s Vineyard. (Dominic Chavez
for The Washington Post)
VINEYARD HAVEN, Mass. — Fifty migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard amid an escalating battle between GOP governors and the White House over immigration were transported to a military base on Cape Cod Friday, as scrutiny mounted over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) use of state funds to airlift men, women and children arriving in Texas.
[...]
State records show the Florida Department of Transportation paid Vertol Systems Company $615,000 on Sept. 8 — about a week before the flights — as part of the “relocation program of unauthorized aliens.”
It is unclear what specifically that money was used to pay for. A person who answered the phone at the company’s headquarters hung up on a Washington Post reporter. The company did not respond to messages requesting comment on the payment.
Vertol has donated thousands of dollars to the Florida state Republican Party and politicians such as Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), a close ally of former president Donald Trump.
[INSERT: OK. Is there a financial gain for DeSantis in there? For Gaetz surely
there would be. Was he involved in DeSantis's stunt? From the previous post:
"The bigger issue might be if it can be proven that anyone was misled or transported against their will, both experts said.
P - Sherman-Stokes said, if that’s the case, it would bring things “perilously close to human trafficking. But it’s not clear to me, on these facts, that it’s more like human trafficking or like smuggling.”
P - She noted that human trafficking requires force, fraud or coercion and for the people to have been exploited — though it’s not clear political exploitation would qualify: “Clearly, DeSantis is exploiting them for political gain, but I’m not sure that rises to the level of human trafficking.”
P - Carr added: “The missing link here is that the fraud needs tie to a commercial benefit for someone (i.e. DeSantis).”"
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=169977488]
“The fact that he used state dollars, as far as we know thus far to the tune of over $600,000, to charter these planes, which sounds like an outrageous sum of money, but it’s state dollars that he’s utilizing for a political stunt,” said former Florida governor Charlie Crist, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee challenging DeSantis this year. “It just smells of high heaven.”
The Florida legislature wasn’t briefed on these plans and has not since received any information about the flights, according to a person familiar with the matter.
As politicians sparred over the legality of the Republican governors’ policies, migrants settled into the military base on Cape Cod Friday, another way station en route to a new life in America. Children kicked soccer balls and cuddled shark-shaped stuffed animals as lawyers interviewed their parents about why they fled countries such as Venezuela.
Though DeSantis described them as “illegal immigrants,” lawyers said border and immigration authorities had “paroled” the migrants into the United States — a temporary legal entry — though they cannot work legally. Many lacked government identification, some of which were seized by immigration officials, who gave them paperwork so they could travel.
“My understanding is that these individuals were in Texas pursuing legal methods of obtaining citizenship,” Driskell, who leads the house Democratic caucus, said. “So why the governor of Florida inserts himself in a federal matter, in Texas, is beyond me. And it’s certainly beyond the scope and limitations of what he’s permitted to use that money in the budget for.”
Each family’s fate will depend on their individual circumstances. Most, if not all, will face deportation hearings in immigration courts, which could take months or years. Some may ask judges to let them stay permanently, by granting them asylum, based on their fear of being persecuted in their home countries. Others may seek special protections for crime or human-trafficking victims.
Some have family and friends in the United States who can help them, others do not.
Susan Church, a Boston immigration lawyer among those aiding migrants on Friday, said migrants are free to return to Florida if they wanted to go there.
“This is just a ridiculous political ploy that puts these extremely innocent people in a terrible situation,” she said. “You can definitely see the anxiety, stress and fear on people’s faces here. They got on a plane. They ended up in a media circus.”
Sacchetti reported from Washington. Cleve R. Wootson Jr, Alice Crites and Karoun Demirjian in Washington,
Molly Hennessy-Fiske in Houston and Joanna Slater in Williamstown, Mass., contributed to this report.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2022/09/16/migrants-desantis-marthas-vineyard/
By Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff, Maria Sacchetti and Lori Rozsa
Updated September 17, 2022 at 3:49 p.m. EDT|Published September 16, 2022 at 11:13 a.m. EDT
Ricardo Gallardo, center right, of Venezuela, is welcomed by Martha’s Vineyard resident Rebecca Mandelli,
center left, outside St. Andrew's Episcopal Church on Martha’s Vineyard. (Dominic Chavez
for The Washington Post)
VINEYARD HAVEN, Mass. — Fifty migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard amid an escalating battle between GOP governors and the White House over immigration were transported to a military base on Cape Cod Friday, as scrutiny mounted over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) use of state funds to airlift men, women and children arriving in Texas.
[...]
State records show the Florida Department of Transportation paid Vertol Systems Company $615,000 on Sept. 8 — about a week before the flights — as part of the “relocation program of unauthorized aliens.”
It is unclear what specifically that money was used to pay for. A person who answered the phone at the company’s headquarters hung up on a Washington Post reporter. The company did not respond to messages requesting comment on the payment.
Vertol has donated thousands of dollars to the Florida state Republican Party and politicians such as Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), a close ally of former president Donald Trump.
[INSERT: OK. Is there a financial gain for DeSantis in there? For Gaetz surely
there would be. Was he involved in DeSantis's stunt? From the previous post:
"The bigger issue might be if it can be proven that anyone was misled or transported against their will, both experts said.
P - Sherman-Stokes said, if that’s the case, it would bring things “perilously close to human trafficking. But it’s not clear to me, on these facts, that it’s more like human trafficking or like smuggling.”
P - She noted that human trafficking requires force, fraud or coercion and for the people to have been exploited — though it’s not clear political exploitation would qualify: “Clearly, DeSantis is exploiting them for political gain, but I’m not sure that rises to the level of human trafficking.”
P - Carr added: “The missing link here is that the fraud needs tie to a commercial benefit for someone (i.e. DeSantis).”"
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=169977488]
“The fact that he used state dollars, as far as we know thus far to the tune of over $600,000, to charter these planes, which sounds like an outrageous sum of money, but it’s state dollars that he’s utilizing for a political stunt,” said former Florida governor Charlie Crist, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee challenging DeSantis this year. “It just smells of high heaven.”
The Florida legislature wasn’t briefed on these plans and has not since received any information about the flights, according to a person familiar with the matter.
As politicians sparred over the legality of the Republican governors’ policies, migrants settled into the military base on Cape Cod Friday, another way station en route to a new life in America. Children kicked soccer balls and cuddled shark-shaped stuffed animals as lawyers interviewed their parents about why they fled countries such as Venezuela.
Though DeSantis described them as “illegal immigrants,” lawyers said border and immigration authorities had “paroled” the migrants into the United States — a temporary legal entry — though they cannot work legally. Many lacked government identification, some of which were seized by immigration officials, who gave them paperwork so they could travel.
“My understanding is that these individuals were in Texas pursuing legal methods of obtaining citizenship,” Driskell, who leads the house Democratic caucus, said. “So why the governor of Florida inserts himself in a federal matter, in Texas, is beyond me. And it’s certainly beyond the scope and limitations of what he’s permitted to use that money in the budget for.”
Each family’s fate will depend on their individual circumstances. Most, if not all, will face deportation hearings in immigration courts, which could take months or years. Some may ask judges to let them stay permanently, by granting them asylum, based on their fear of being persecuted in their home countries. Others may seek special protections for crime or human-trafficking victims.
Some have family and friends in the United States who can help them, others do not.
Susan Church, a Boston immigration lawyer among those aiding migrants on Friday, said migrants are free to return to Florida if they wanted to go there.
“This is just a ridiculous political ploy that puts these extremely innocent people in a terrible situation,” she said. “You can definitely see the anxiety, stress and fear on people’s faces here. They got on a plane. They ended up in a media circus.”
Sacchetti reported from Washington. Cleve R. Wootson Jr, Alice Crites and Karoun Demirjian in Washington,
Molly Hennessy-Fiske in Houston and Joanna Slater in Williamstown, Mass., contributed to this report.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2022/09/16/migrants-desantis-marthas-vineyard/
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