Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has selected multiple transportation companies to organize the relocation of more migrants to Democratic-led cities in the north.
The move, first reported by CNN, is the latest development in his plans to once again move migrants from Florida to Democratic enclaves elsewhere in the country.
In September, he flew four dozen migrants from Texas to the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard, causing an uproar among his Democrat opponents.
The selection of companies that the state will use to coordinate the scheme comes just a week after the Florida legislature authorized $12 million for the cause.
The Biden administration also sent 1,500 troops to the southern border to deal with a potential influx of migrants as a Covid-era border restriction, known as Title 42, will expire on Thursday.
Title 42 allowed federal agents to rapidly expel migrants at the border over Covid-19 public health concerns.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has selected multiple transportation companies to organize the relocation of more migrants to Democratic enclaves elsewhere in the country
In September, he flew four dozen migrants from Texas to the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard. Pictured are Venezuelan migrants outside St. Andrew’s Church in Edgartown, Massachusetts, in September
Florida Division of Emergency Management spokeswoman Alecia Collins confirmed to CNN on Tuesday the state had ‘selected multiple vendors based on their capabilities to carry out the program’.
DailyMail.com wrote to Collins for specific information regarding which types of companies have been chosen and at what cost, but did not immediately receive a reply.
On Tuesday, at an unrelated press conference, DeSantis was asked about the border crisis and said he would back the construction of a wall and the use of military force to curtail migration.
‘I’ve always supported the walls,’ he said, adding that he thought the borders are too long to effectively monitor any other way.
‘The cartels will direct people to where there’s no surveillance,’ he said. ‘So you have to have that. I think it’s important.’
On Monday Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador attacked how DeSantis was passing immigration policy.
‘Why does [DeSantis] have to take advantage of people’s pain, of migrants’ pain, of people’s need, for political gain,’ Obrador said during a press conference.
DeSantis is not the only Republican coordinating efforts to move migrants elsewhere, which the Biden administration has branded ‘political stunts’.
‘We’re using the tools that we have in front of us to deal with this issue,’ White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.
‘Republican officials want to do something else – they want to campaign on this issue, they want to do political stunts, that’s what we’re seeing from the Governor of Texas.’
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey have also indicated they plan to bus migrants to New York City, Chicago and Washington D.C.
Abbott published a video to Twitter on Tuesday in which National Guard soldiers were seen arriving in Texas as he announced the deployment of a new Texas Tactical Border Force to the Texas-Mexico border.
DeSantis made the controversial move in September 2022 to transport 48 migrants from Texas to the liberal Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard
The passage of S.B. 1718 last week allocated $12 million for DeSantis’ administration to transport migrants from outside the state to Democratic areas – just as he did when flying migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard last year.
Legislators also agreed to roll back a 2014 measure that allowed undocumented immigrants to be admitted to the Florida Bar.
Democrats in Florida have already criticized DeSantis’ plans, saying the ongoing crisis shouldn’t excuse the governor’s push to fly migrants out of Florida to other areas of the country.
Florida Democratic Rep. Susan Valdes, from Tampa, says that the bill ‘demonized marginalized people.’
‘Immigrants are people just like us except they did not have the fortune to be in the United States,’ said Valdes, whose parents immigrated from Cuba.
Democrats have already threatened to challenge the law in court, with some calling measures in the legislation racist.
