California Gov. Gavin Newsom has asked the Department of Justice to look into whether sending migrants to other parts of the country constituted kidnapping or other federal crimes.
In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Newsom asked whether actions by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sending illegal immigrants from their respective states to destinations such as New York City, Washington, D.C. Chicago, and Martha’s Vineyard were illegal.
“Several of the individuals who were transported to Martha’s Vineyard have alleged that a recruiter induced them to accept the offer of travel based on false representations that they would be transported to Boston and would receive expedited access to work authorization,” Newsom wrote. “I urge US DOJ to investigate whether the alleged fraudulent inducement would support charges of kidnapping under relevant state laws.”
DeSantis most recently sent migrants to Massachusetts on Wednesday after promising he would relocate them to a “sanctuary destination.”
Governor Newsom calls on @TheJusticeDept to investigate interstate transportation of migrants. pic.twitter.com/BngmCsgdY7
— Office of the Governor of California (@CAgovernor) September 15, 2022
An accelerating campaign by Republican governors to send migrants to Democratic strongholds, initially seen by many Democratic officials as a political stunt, now has those officials scrambling as migrants unexpectedly arrive in a widening number of locales.
The latest instance of the campaign came Wednesday afternoon when planes carrying 50 migrants seeking asylum, mostly from Venezuela, landed unexpectedly in Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s office confirmed that the state orchestrated the flights.
The moves follow similar efforts by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who in recent months have each sent thousands of asylum-seeking migrants who crossed the southern border illegally into their states on buses to Washington, D.C., New York and most recently Chicago.
www.wsj.com/articles/florida-sends-50-migrants-on-planes-to-marthas-vineyard-11663253106