Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is receiving some backlash after lawmakers in Florida have approved a bill approving a high budget migrant relocation program. At the moment, a number of lawsuits have been filed against Governor DeSantis for chartering multiple planes that transported Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard as part of a contentious scheme that has drawn criticism for deceiving migrants. The specific bill causing controversy at the moment is said to enable an unauthorized alien transport program once Governor DeSantis provides his signature. The following program allows for the removal and transportation of undocumented migrants to Democratic states such as Washington and New York.
Discussion over the migrant relocation program has begun five months after DeSantis claimed responsibility for chartering fifty Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard from San Antonio, via Florida, when local authorities were unaware that migrants would be arriving and when migrants themselves were unaware that they would be flying to an island off the coast of Cape Cod. This caused a lot of commotion considering authorities in Martha’s Vineyard were not notified in advance therefore they were unprepared for the migrant arrival and could not cater to them as ideally as possible.
The new measure differs from the original scheme in that it enables the state to transfer migrants directly from border states, allowing DeSantis greater freedom to hire transportation firms to fly people straight from locations like Texas. According to officials, Florida needs the program in order to prevent increasing crime and to lower economic prospects for American workers.