White House says DeSantis, Abbott like ‘smugglers’ for transporting migrants from border
The Biden administration increased its criticism of Ron DeSantis over his scheme this week to fly migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, accusing Florida’s Republican governor of deploying “smuggler tactics” to deceive asylum seekers.
“These vulnerable migrants were reportedly misled about where they were headed, told they would be headed to Boston, misled about what they would be provided when they arrived, promised shelter, refuge, benefits and more,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at a daily press briefing.
“These are the kinds of tactics we see from smugglers,” Jean-Pierre said. “And for what? A photo op?”
Jean-Pierre said that DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, whose state bused migrants to the Washington residence of Vice President Kamala Harris Thursday, had “lured 100 asylum seekers, including children, onto planes and buses with false premises, and then abandoned them on a busy road thousands of miles away with nothing but ziplock bags of their belongings in hand.”
“These were children. They were moms. They were fleeing communism. And what did Gov. DeSantis and Gov. Abbott do to them? They treated them like political pawns, treated them like chattel in a cruel, premeditated political stunt,” she said. “Why else would Gov. DeSantis have spent the time to charter a flight to take migrants out of a different state — not even his state, a different state — and hire a videographer to capture footage of that flight, but not bother to let Massachusetts authorities know that migrant children in need of food and shelter were about to land on their doorstep.”
Jean-Pierre said that questions over the legality of DeSantis’ operation would be settled by the Justice Department.
This story was originally published September 16, 2022 at 4:04 PM.
