DeSantis Dismisses Accusations That Migrants Were 'Falsely Lured'
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (Getty)
By Jeremy Frankel | Sunday, 18 September 2022 10:31 PM EDT
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, dismissed accusations from Democrats that the 50 migrants sent from Florida to Martha's Vineyard were "falsely lured" or "enticed" into making the trip.
In answering a reporter's question during a press conference Friday, DeSantis said, "I think that's totally false. I think if you look, the folks that are contracted, not only do they give them a release form to sign, they actually give them a packet and in that packet included a map of Martha's Vineyard. So it was obvious that that's where they were going, and they gave that to them.
"And here's the thing, it's all voluntary, because it's just the type of thing where we think that's the right way to do it. I mean, I think that if the states could send, I would send back to Mexico or back to the home country. But here we are doing it voluntarily. They sign a release, and then they get a packet. So they did get a packet that had the map of Martha's Vineyard. And they're also treated, you know, very well with all this. I mean, they're treated well with meals and everything," DeSantis continued.
DeSantis then pushed back on a CNN segment that seemingly likened DeSantis' sending migrants to Martha's Vineyard to the Holocaust, saying, "I just thought to myself, 'Has the world gotten totally mad?' I mean, this is voluntary transportation that they're signing up for. But they're given a good ride; they're given everything. And that's just, you know, it's a humane thing to do.
"What's not humane is what Biden is doing. He's given a false promise. The border's open, luring people to come here for political purposes and then basically cutting these people loose and leaving them high and dry. What he should say is, 'Our border's not open. You know, there's ways to apply to come to this country, but just simply barreling across the border is not one of them,'" DeSantis added.
The governor then noted that the current border policy can be traced back to Biden's reversal of former President Donald Trump's border policies because he and his party don't like Trump, so they need to do the exact opposite of what Trump did, and that it "was all just a big virtue signal."