Doubts rise over whether Florida’s governor had budget authority to fly migrants
Two leading Florida House Democrats on Monday sent a letter to Republican legislative leaders calling on them to object to “unlawful actions” taken by DeSantis.
Republicans are not a political party as much as they are a crime syndicate. They are a mob of gang thugs. In their minds they are above the laws, that the law doesn’t apply to them. They believe they can have anything they want by threats of violence. No one else has rights but them, their rights are always sacred but again no one else matters. They have no desire for a civil society, they want their way and will use violence and threats of violence to get what they want, which is one reason they are so demanding of being able to carry their guns everywhere. Is this a decent society to live in, where there is no civil discourse, where everyone is forced to live under threats of violence, and there can be no criticism of the people in charge? I have seen that in East Berlin under the rule of communist Russia / the USSR in the 1980s. Please notice that again DeathSantis admits that the numbers of immigrants coming to Florida are very small. The state is not being flood or overwhelmed by asylum seekers who are legally here nor by undocumented (illegal) immigrants. The ones that come here are by one or two at a time. So rather than use the $12 million in tax payer money to help the people DeathSantis instead is using it for a political photo session and to rile up his base. Hugs
After the Florida governor sent dozens of people seeking asylum from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, a local sheriff says he believes laws were broken.
And now, his office says, it’s received “numerous threats.”
Sheriff Javier Salazar of Bexar County, where the flight last week originated, announced Monday that he was opening an investigation into the flight. The sheriff told reporters that he believes the migrants were “lured” to Martha’s Vineyard under “false pretenses” for a “photo-op and stranded,” and that both county and federal laws were broken.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar announced he is opening a criminal investigation into Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' migrant flight to Martha's Vineyard as the stunt continues to draw criticism from Democrats and even some Republicans. https://t.co/eeOSfQIisTpic.twitter.com/1COq6WlX0J
On Tuesday, a spokesperson from the Bexar County Sheriff’s office told VICE News in an email that “there have been numerous threats, an influx of calls to our dispatch and administrative offices, along with hateful emails received” since the investigation was announced.
“Additionally, as in any instance when our office receives threats precautionary measures will be made for safety of all personnel,” the spokesperson said.
After the plane carrying the 48 migrants touched down in Martha’s Vineyard last week, local officials blasted the DeSantis administration for allegedly making false promises to the migrants. Migrants were offered “eight months cash assistance,” “food,” “housing,” and “job placements,” according to a brochure given to the migrants which was published by the newsletter Popular Information on Monday.
State Rep. Dylan Fernandes, a Democrat who represents the Martha’s Vineyard area, called DeSantis’s move “fucking depraved.” On Sunday, Fernandes called for a federal trafficking probe “to hold DeSantis (and) others accountable for these inhumane acts.”
We are requesting that the Department of Justice open an investigation to hold DeSantis & others accountable for these inhumane acts. Not only is it morally criminal, there are legal implications around fraud, kidnapping, deprivation of liberty, and human trafficking.
On Tuesday afternoon, the migrants filed a class action lawsuit against DeSantis and the Florida Department of Transportation, according to Popular Information.
BREAKING: Migrants flown to Massachusetts file class action lawsuit against DeSantis and other Florida officials in federal court pic.twitter.com/Rp5xgAWOKp
DeSantis, who is up for re-election this year, has become one of the most popular figures in the Republican party due to his relentless hostility towards his perceived political enemies and the media, and has been rumored as a potential candidate in 2024. DeSantis’s campaign and PAC have raised a combined $178 million this year, a gubernatorial fundraising record, according to OpenSecrets.
DeSantis asked for and secured $12 million in the Florida state budget earlier this year for an “immigration relocation program.”
After multiple delays, however, the flight from east Texas rerouted to Nashville, and is now scheduled to land in Bergen County, New Jersey Tuesday evening. It’s unclear why the flight was re-routed and who the passengers are. However, local officials say they are prepared in case migrants are dropped off.
The office of Delaware Gov. John Carney did not respond to a request for comment from VICE News, but told The News Journalthat Delaware’s emergency management and health and social services agencies “are working with community organizations and other partners to make sure that migrants who arrive here have the support that they need.”
Georgetown is located roughly 40 minutes miles west of the North Shores beach community, where President Joe Biden owns a beach house, but the more rural Georgetown is a minority-majority community with one of the highest concentrations of Guatemalan-Americans in the country.
On Tuesday, Biden was asked about the plane and told White House reporters that DeSantis “should come visit. We have a beautiful shoreline.”
Asked about reports that GOP Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is potentially planning to send migrants to his home state of Delaware, Pres. Biden responds, “He should come visit. We have a beautiful shoreline.” https://t.co/6tAdNeTAvBpic.twitter.com/dF5rN9AOYH
On Tuesday, DeSantis said at a press conference that he “cannot confirm” he was flying migrants to Delaware. He also offered up a confusing defense of why his administration went to another state to purposefully seek out migrants to ship them elsewhere.
“The problem is we’re not seeing mass movements [of migrants] into Florida, so you end up in a car with maybe two [migrants],” DeSantis said. “It’s just coming in onesie-twosies. We’ve had people on the border since last summer…everyone down there will say between 30 and 40 percent of the people coming across are seeking to end up in Florida.”
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), when asked why the state paid to transport migrants from Texas instead of from Florida:
“The problem is we’re not seeing mass movements of them into Florida … It’s just coming in onesie-twosies.” pic.twitter.com/zY1Ma3cst8
“[Democrats] accused the governors of Arizona, Texas, and me of political stunts dealing with illegal immigration,” DeSantis told Hannity, referring to Texas and Arizona bussing migrants to Washington D.C. and New York City. “But the biggest stunt was Biden coming into office and reversing [former President Donald] Trump’s [immigration] policies.”
Community services groups in Massachusetts mobilized to provide the migrants who landed in Martha’s Vineyard, who included small children and the elderly, with food and shelter. The migrants were later taken to Joint Base Cape Cod, where they are now being provided with services, according to the Cape Cod Times.
In Delaware, a pastor at an Episcopal church in Georgetown was ready to welcome migrants Tuesday.
“If this happens,” Pastor Elizabeth Kaeton told the News Journal, “we’re gonna be as generous as we can be and do exactly what Jesus told us to do, which is love our neighbor as we love ourselves.”
Video appears to undercut Trump elector’s account of alleged voting-data breach in Georgia
Parts of former state GOP official Cathy Latham’s testimony about the copying of sensitive elections software in Coffee County appear to diverge from surveillance camera footage and other evidence.
A group of migrants huddle on a sidewalk in Martha’s Vineyard, MA on September 15, 2022 (Photo by Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Popular Information has obtained documentary evidence that migrants from Venezuela were provided with false information to convince them to board flights chartered by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R). The documents suggest that the flights were not just a callous political stunt but potentially a crime.
Last Wednesday, two planes landed in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, and dropped off about 50 migrants from Venezuela. DeSantis quickly took credit. The migrants were used as political pawns in the hopes of provoking a negative reaction from a liberal community.
“When people are brought to their front door, they go berserk,” DeSantis said. “Their virtue signaling is a fraud.” But the people in Martha’s Vineyard did not go berserk. Instead, they rallied together to provide shelter, food, clothing, and other necessities for the group. On Friday, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker (R) facilitated their voluntary relocation to Joint Base Cape Cod, which is “a safe temporary accommodation appropriate for the specific needs of families and individuals.”
The charter flights appear to be inspired by a Tucker Carlson monologue from July 26, in which the notoriously xenophobic host suggested sending migrants to Martha’s Vineyard in “huge numbers.”
DeSantis reportedly sent a videographer along for the ride, and Fox News obtained “exclusive footage of the migrants’ arrival.”
In the aftermath of the flights, a key issue of contention is whether the migrants boarded the flights freely and voluntarily. While DeSantis and his administration repeatedly referred to the migrants as “illegal immigrants,” the migrants surrendered to immigration officials after crossing the border into Texas. They are now seeking asylum from the repressive authoritarian regime in Venezuela. The migrants are legally permitted to remain in the United States while their cases are being considered by immigration courts.
So these migrants are able to voluntarily travel within the United States. But many of the migrants told reporters that they were misled about the nature of the flights. Several migrants told NPR they were told the flight was going to Boston, not Martha’s Vineyard. According to the migrants, a woman who identified herself as Perla also said that, if they traveled to Boston, they could receive “expedited work papers.”
The allegation that the migrants were misled is legally significant. It would mean that the flights were not just heartless, but potentially criminal. If the migrants were misled, the scheme to transport them to Martha’s Vineyard could constitute fraud, false imprisonment, or kidnapping. “There is absolutely the possibility of both civil and criminal liability if people were lied to about where they were going [or] what they were going to get when they got there,” lawyer Susan Church told Politico.
DeSantis has been adamant that the migrants were not misled. He claims that migrants were provided with a map showing the destination was Martha’s Vineyard and describes the flights as “all voluntary.” Appearing on Fox News on Sunday Morning, Florida Lt. Governor Jeanette Nunez (R) called allegations that the migrants were misled “categorically false.”
Popular Information, however, has obtained a brochure that was provided to the migrants who ultimately agreed to the flights. It was provided to Popular Information by Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR), a Boston-based legal organization that represents 30 of the migrants. The brochure says that migrants who arrive in Massachusetts will be eligible for numerous benefits, including “8 months cash assistance,” “assistance with housing,” “food,” “clothing,” “transportation to job interviews,” “job training,” “job placement,” “registering children for school,” “assistance applying for Social Security cards,” and many other benefits.
None of this, however, is true.
Matt Cameron, a Boston-based immigration attorney, explained that the benefits described in the brochure are resettlement benefits available to refugees who have been referred by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and authorized to live in the United States. These benefits are not available in Massachusetts to the migrants who boarded the flights, who are still in the process of seeking asylum.
The migrants who boarded the planes “absolutely do not have access to cash, housing, and other resettlement benefits which are provided through both federal funds and partnerships with faith-based [organizations],” Cameron said.
The brochure, which is crudely designed to resemble a government document, does not explain that these benefits described are only available to specially designated refugees.
According to some of the migrants, the benefits described in the brochure were also promised verbally by Perla to lure them onto the planes chartered by DeSantis. “[T]hey told us that they were going to help us with the rent, to get a job, that was the only option left to us,” one migrant, Eduardo Linares, told the Texas Tribune. (Linares ultimately declined to board the flight.)
There could be real consequences for migrants who were convinced to board the flight under false pretenses. Seeking asylum is an “often years-long process through immigration courts that requires [migrants] to check in with Immigration and Customs Enforcement periodically.” Some migrants now find themselves thousands of miles away from where they need to report for their next check-in. A missed appointment can “be detrimental to their case.”
On Saturday, LCR wrote to U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, calling on them to open a formal investigation. “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,” LCR said in the letter. “[T]hose who had induced our clients to travel under these false pretenses disappeared, leaving our clients to learn that the offers of assistance had all been a ruse to exploit them for political purposes.”
DeSantis’ office did not respond to a request for comment about the brochure.
This is highly illegal and the trump people did it, repeatedly. It makes all future elections unsecure if those machines are used again. Will the trump maga cult be punished for these attacks on the voting machines? Hugs
Newly released videos show allies of former President Donald J. Trump and contractors who were working on his behalf handling sensitive voting equipment in a rural Georgia county weeks after the 2020 election.
One such incident took place on Jan. 7 of last year, the day after supporters of Mr. Trump stormed the Capitol, when a small team traveled to rural Coffee County, Ga.
The group included members of an Atlanta-based firm called SullivanStrickler, which had been hired by Sidney Powell, a lawyer advising Mr. Trump who is also a conspiracy theorist.
Videos show allies of Donald Trump and contractors who were working on his behalf handling sensitive voting equipment in a Georgia county weeks after the 2020 election. It was not immediately clear what, if anything, was done with any data. https://t.co/AZBcY7c5JR
On 1/18/21, Doug Logan was seen on camera entering the elections office in Coffee County, Ga., site of an alleged voting equipment breach. A week later, the $422,750 mortgage he took out in 2017 on his Sarasota, Fla. home was paid off. Logan has 12 kids. https://t.co/IPeFC62Dm9
Doug Logan paying of his mortgage after the shenanigans was reported in Sarasota about a year ago. He is connected to Michael Flynn, Charlie Kirk, Chris Pavloski, Caroline Wetherington, Steve Bannon, Andy Badolato, and especially Patrick Byrne.
After the investigation, Cyber Ninjas concluded there was no fraud in AZ and confirmed President Biden’s victory, he claimed the company was in bankruptcy. Now Logan says he will start a new company. (Hey, he has 12 kids to support)
This one of the most watched loudest voices in right wing media. Spreading more lies so more people will be targeted for violence and more LGBTQ+ events will get shut down by the Proud Boys gang thugs enforcement arm of the republican party. Grooming is when someone builds a relationship, trust and emotional connection with a child or young person so they can manipulate, exploit and abuse them. Children and young people who are groomed can be sexually abused, exploited or trafficked. Anybody can be a groomer, no matter their age, gender or race. Teachers are not groomers, nor are drag queens reading stories with parents present. The ones sexualizing kids is the right who are claiming anything they don’t like is sexualizing kids, and anyone they are against is a grooming pedophile. Kids understand gender from the time they notice mommy and daddy, brother and sister, and kids understand love attraction again because they see it at home, on TV, at church, anywhere there are people in relationships. They understand it if Mr. T and Mr. B are a couple that they love each other like their family. They are not sexualized to see a picture of a straight spouse on a teacher’s desk and they are not sexualized to see a picture of a same sex spouse on a teacher’s desk. It doesn’t sexualize them in anyway. It is just the world around them. What does sexualize them is what the right wing is doing, making children a sexual pawn to criminalize / ban everything you don’t like in society. Don’t bring the kids into your hate, be honest and just say you hate some and are against it. Don’t hide behind the kids. Hugs
“In a healthy country, with an intact social fabric, neighborhood dads would give out instant justice to anyone who even thought about sexualizing their kids.
“And if you doubt that, go out and try it in Bulgaria or South Africa or the Solomon Islands. Good luck. Let us know how that ends, if you can still speak.
“Libs of TikTok was being banned from the internet — why? Because it showed documentary evidence of what was happening. Some people described what was happening as grooming.
“We are not exactly sure what that means, but if it’s sexually abusing children — yeah, that is what’s happening. But the term groomer is now hate speech, says NBC News.
“What you’re seeing is a society that hates children. You would have to hate children in order to sexualize them. Because sexualizing children screws them up for life — ask anyone to whom it has happened — period.
“No one should put up with this. No parent should put up with this for one second, no matter what the law says. Your duty — your moral duty — is to defend your children.
“This is an attack on your children and you should fight back.” – Tucker Carlson, on last night’s show.
NEW: Sean Hannity accidentally SCREWS OVER Ted Cruz to his face on air. To demand the DOJ prosecute DeSantis and Abbott for their Martha’s Vineyard stunt, sign here 👉 https://odaction.com/prosecute-desant…
Religious goon spreads vicious lies about furries in schools. Ana Kasparian and John Iadarola discuss on The Young Turks. Watch LIVE weekdays 6-8 pm ET.
https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/st… “Right-wing preacher Andrew Wommack claims to have a friend who “actually knows a teacher that comes to school as a furry and wears ears and a tail and uses a litter box at the front of the classroom to relieve himself.”
Scottie's Playtime 