Crist’s radio ad in Spanish takes aim at DeSantis’ plan to bus migrants to Delaware
Florida Democratic gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist is taking aim at Gov. Ron DeSantis’ plan to bus undocumented migrants to Delaware in a new Spanish-language radio ad.
The six-figure ad, his campaign says, condemns Republican Lt. Gov. Jeanette Núñez, who appeared to suggest recently on a conservative AM radio show that Cubans who were in Florida “illegally” would be bused to Delaware.
Crist’s 60-second Spanish radio ad begins with a woman reminiscing about the time Cubans in Miami came together to stop a 5-year-old Elián González from being sent back to Cuba for months after he was found clinging to an inner tube in the Florida Straits on Thanksgiving Day in 1999. The ad then fast-forwards to last year’s nationwide protests in the Caribbean country against political tyranny.
READ MORE: Did Florida’s lieutenant governor say ‘illegal’ Cuban migrants will be sent to Delaware?
“Now, with the images of beatings and imprisonments and the desperate cry of “Patria y Vida” still echoing in our hearts, we learn from Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nuñez, a daughter of Cuban exiles, that Ron DeSantis wants to put Cubans who came here fleeing from communism and seeking freedom on a list so he can expel them from our state,” the woman says.
Then part of Nuñez’s statements on the AM radio station can be heard: “He’s going to send them, frankly speaking, to Delaware, the president’s state.”
The woman then accuses DeSantis of using children as “political pawns” with the intention to “ingratiate himself with the most radical people in his party.”
“Charlie Crist has demanded that DeSantis immediately reject that idea and apologize to our community,” the woman says. “Mr. DeSantis: You must not play with the pain of a people and the future of children!”
Facing criticism from South Florida Democrats, Nuñez’s staff was quick to draw the distinction between Cubans and other groups of migrants. “Once again, entering the country illegally and fleeing a dictatorship while seeking asylum are two very, very different things,” tweeted Nikki Whiting, Nuñez’s spokeswoman. “The only reason why the left is fixating on this is because Hispanics are flocking to the Republican Party.”
READ MORE: ‘You should know better.’ Miami Democrats single out Nuñez over Cuban migrant comments
At DeSantis’ request, the Florida Department of Transportation has access to $12 million to contract with private transportation companies to bus undocumented immigrants out of the state. But the Republican governor said last week — after Nuñez’s radio interview made headlines — that a similar program in Texas has “taken a lot of pressure off” his administration, suggesting that he is not in any rush to start relocating migrants out of The Sunshine State.
READ MORE: Crist resigns from Congress, doesn’t cite reasons for leaving before his term is up
Miami Herald staff writers Bianca Padró Ocasio and Ana Ceballos contributed to this report.
This story was originally published September 1, 2022 at 1:30 PM.
