(KTXL) — California leaders are demanding answers hours after a second flight of more than a dozen migrants was flown in from out of state and dropped off in Sacramento.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta allege the migrants arrived under false pretenses and the state officials are blaming Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Bonta confirmed for the second time in less than a week that South American migrants in Texas were flown on a chartered plane to Sacramento.
The attorney general says the migrants were flown under false pretenses that they would receive assistance and jobs upon arrival to Sacramento.
“These are individuals that are seeking safety and fleeing situations where there’s potential violence and persecution,” Bonta said. “When they step foot in the U.S. as asylum seekers, they should have been received with that dignity and respect and compassion, but instead were received with deceit.”
On Monday morning, a flight with approximately 20 migrants landed, just three days after 16 migrants were brought to the capital city in the first flight.
The first group of migrants was dropped off at the Catholic Diocese of Sacramento by bus.
On both flights, Bonta said the migrants arrived with confusion and nowhere to go.
“Pain, more cruelty, inhumanity being visited upon people: human beings who don’t deserve it,” Bonta said.
Bonta said the migrants were in possession of documents purporting to be from Florida and he alleges who’s responsible.
“We believe this is the official practice of the state of Florida, and that this is something endorsed by and supported by Gov. DeSantis,” Bonta said. “They used official tax dollars to pay for a private vendor to reach out to asylum seekers and migrants and fly them to other states.”
“What we heard so far is there were promises to them about finding jobs that were deceitful and were false,” Bonta continues. “My message is to check yourself Ron DeSantis. These practices are un-American and they must stop.”
It’s a program he says Florida had used before when they sent migrants to Martha’s Vineyard in the fall of 2022.
On Twitter, Newsom wrote: “@rondesantis, you small, pathetic man. This isn’t Martha’s Vineyard.”
Newsom then questioned whether this could constitute kidnapping charges.
Win Eaton, an attorney and state bar-certified specialist in immigration & nationality law, said it’s unlikely California could pursue criminal charges but believes a civil action is certainly possible.
“There are some nefarious things that have occurred,” Eaton said. “If not illegal, it is just reprehensible and immoral, so I think that’s where the civil exposure will come into play here, and somebody will pay dearly.”
FOX40 News reached out to the Florida Governor’s Office, the Florida Office of Emergency Services, and the Texas Department of Public Safety, but none of them provided a comment.
