Gov. Ron DeSantis engages in all kinds of political antics, but his Martha’s Vineyard stunt is among the toughest to defend. As regular readers know, the Florida Republican and his team allegedly used public resources last summer to lure desperate migrants onto airplanes under false pretenses. The exploited victims of the governor’s scheme were then dropped off on a Massachusetts island — without local officials being notified.
There are credible questions about whether the plot was legal, and in addition to the obvious concerns about morality and politics, DeSantis’ scheme was also surprisingly expensive for Florida taxpayers: A Tallahassee Democrat report put the cost at around $35,000 — and counting — for each migrant relocated through the state’s program.
It was a ridiculous debacle, which the governor did not repeat. At least, that is, until this week. NBC News reported that a Florida official confirmed yesterday that the DeSantis administration helped arrange for migrants to fly to Sacramento, California.
In response to California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s claim that Florida was most likely responsible for two flights carrying migrants that landed in Sacramento, the state capital, a spokesperson for Florida’s Division of Emergency Management said in a statement, “Through verbal and written consent, these volunteers indicated they wanted to go to California.”
In other words, the DeSantis administration, nine months after the Martha’s Vineyard fiasco, thought it’d be a good idea to use Florida taxpayers’ funds to give migrants free flights from Texas to California.
Initially, the Republican governor and his team didn’t want to acknowledge their role in the stunt, but they’re now coming clean.
For his part, California Democrat Gavin Newsom is apoplectic about this, accusing Florida officials of having committed crimes. I don’t imagine we’ve heard the last of this angle.
There’s also the question of incentives to consider. Think about the message DeSantis and his team are once again sending to would-be migrants, weighing whether to make the trip: If you reach the United States, Florida’s far-right governor might spend thousands of dollars on you, providing you with free flights, either to a lovely coastal town in New England or to northern California. Don’t Republicans usually talk about discouraging people from trying to cross the border? But just as important are the motivations behind a plot like this. There’s no great mystery to unravel: DeSantis is running for president and eager to impress the GOP’s rabid base. By using desperate migrants as props, and abusing the interests of Florida taxpayers, he can enrage a blue state governor while giving himself a new talking point for the trail. If there’s a defense for such conduct, I can’t think of it.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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