TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis vowed Friday to spend all $12 million he has been given by state lawmakers on flights and buses sending migrants to sanctuary cities and states in protest of what he calls President Biden’s “reckless” border policies.
“We’re going to spend every penny of that making sure we get them out of this state,” DeSantis said during a news conference in Daytona Beach.
At the same time, he conceded that the four dozen refugees flown from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday were not from Florida but were among those identified as “wanting to come to Florida.”
DeSantis said he decided to identify and relocate people out of Texas after it became clear no large numbers of migrants were being bused to Florida, just handfuls of people in private cars.
“We did stuff in the Panhandle, but there were no major caravans,” he said.
Based on anecdotal evidence from visiting the Texas-Mexico border, Florida officials on the ground in Texas have identified people wanting to come to Florida, he said.
“Forty percent say they want to come to Florida,” DeSantis said.
Through public records, the Orlando Sentinel determined that Vertol Systems, a private contractor based in Destin that provides aviation services, was paid $615,000 a week ago to relocate the Texas migrants. That works out to nearly $13,000 per migrant.
Vertol owner James Montgomerie did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
“We hired contractors, a lot of stuff was going into this,” DeSantis said, promising there would be more flights and buses to relocate migrants to sanctuary jurisdictions that have the resources to care for them that Florida doesn’t have. “You’re going to see more and more.”
Martha’s Vineyard is not one of the six sanctuary cities in Massachusetts.
The money comes out of a $12 million budget line item that originated from federal COVID relief grants. It is supposed to be used for relocating undocumented migrants from Florida.
Using online flight tracking programs, the Orlando Sentinel confirmed that the flights were chartered through Cincinnati, Ohio-based Ultimate Air Shuttle.
The two Dornier 328, 30-passenger jets, each with a range of 1,000 miles non-stop, took off from Kelly Field in San Antonio to Bob Sikes airport in Crestview, Florida, near where Vertol is located.
From there, one plane went to Charlotte, N.C. and the other went to Spartanburg, S.C., before both ultimately landed at Martha’s Vineyard, where they unloaded the refugees.
Several of the refugees told reporters they didn’t know they were going to Martha’s Vineyard.
But DeSantis disagreed, saying the migrants who boarded the planes in Texas were not falsely lured. They signed release forms, went voluntarily, were fed and received a packet with a map and brochure of Martha’s Vineyard, he said.
“They were treated very well,” he said.
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