The return of Air DeSantis may be imminent.
Gov. Ron DeSantis said some undocumented immigrants intercepted while attempting to land in Florida from Haiti may lead to a trip to New England for those refugees.
“We do have our transport program also that’s going to be operational,” DeSantis said. “So Haitians who land in the Florida Keys, their next stop very well may be Martha’s Vineyard.”
These could be costly trips; previous junkets cost taxpayers $35,000 per traveler.
DeSantis has often defended his administration’s transport of undocumented immigrants to Massachusetts — which some critics have described as “human trafficking” — including saying during a presidential campaign stop that the trips were compatible with the teachings of Jesus Christ. He has accused Martha’s Vineyard of falsely “advertising” being a sanctuary city.
While some states could simply “put them back over the border,” DeSantis claims that Florida couldn’t do that as a “maritime state.”
“The problem when you get to a situation like Florida is if they have people in our state and we wanted to fly them, say, back to Haiti, you have to get clearance to be able to do that. If you wanted to fly somebody to a South American country, wherever they’re from, it becomes a little bit more difficult because the federal government is going to tell those countries not to accept our planes.”
The Governor already launched Operation Vigilant Sentry, which is designed to keep Haitian refugees from making landfall and finding refuge in Florida, with 250 total forces deployed. More than half of them are from the Florida State Guard.
In addition to that 133-member contingent, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement will send 39 additional officers, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will deploy 23 additional officers with eight additional seacraft, the Florida National Guard will engage 48 additional Guardsmen with four additional helicopters, and the Florida Highway Patrol will allocate 30 additional officers with an additional aircraft and drones for surveillance.
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