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US House of Representatives Governor of Florida
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On September 14, 2022, Florida governor Ron DeSantis sent approximately 50 primarily Venezuelan asylum seekers by air from San Antonio, Texas, to the island of Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts. The incident and ones like it have caused a partisan divide across the US. President Joe Biden and other Democrats called it "a political stunt and inhumane", [1] [2] while Republicans such as Mitch McConnell "thought it was a good idea". [3]
Since April 2022, as a protest against President Joe Biden's actions and policies on US illegal immigration, Texas governor Greg Abbott and Arizona governor Doug Ducey have sent buses of illegal immigrants to northern United States cities with a large presence of Democratic Party supporters. [4] According to DeSantis, the flights he arranged were to expose "liberal hypocrisy", [5] because people in Democratic northern cites "were so proud to be sanctuary jurisdictions", and when migrants arrived "they all of a sudden go berserk". [6] [7] DeSantis's office said the flights would "transport illegal immigrants to sanctuary destinations" that can care for migrants "they have invited into our country by incentivizing illegal immigration through their designation as 'sanctuary states' and support for the Biden Administration's open border policies." [7]
DeSantis asked the legislature for relocation money, saying the federal government made more than 70 flights of immigrants to Florida in 2021. [8] He budgeted $8 million and got $12 million from the Florida legislature in 2022, paid from interest on the $5.8 billion that Florida received from the American Rescue Plan. [9] The fund was earmarked, to "facilitate the transport of unauthorized aliens from this state [Florida] consistent with federal law". [9] According to the Associated Press, these migrants are legally permitted to remain in the United States while they pursue asylum. [10]
Some migrants were told, by a San Antonio woman named Perla Huerta, [11] [12] that their flights were going to Boston, Massachusetts, where they could get what NPR described as "expedited work papers". [13] A Boston Globe and Texas Tribune investigation found that a tall, blond woman approached migrants outside a San Antonio McDonald's. [14] One migrant contacted by the papers said she promised "three months of rent, work, and said they were going to put our papers in order." [14] She gave them meals and four nights in a San Antonio hotel before their flights left, and offered one migrant $200 to recruit others to board the flights. [14] Some migrants turned down the offer. [14] Perla is an ex-Army combat medic. [12]
One of the two flights that Florida governor DeSantis chartered departed from San Antonio stopped in Florida, stopped again in South Carolina, and landed in Martha's Vineyard. The second flight similarly left San Antonio, stopped in Florida, stopped again in Charlotte, North Carolina, and finally landed in Martha's Vineyard. [13] DeSantis hired Vertol Systems for the flights, who then subcontracted Ultimate JetCharters, based in Ohio. [15] Additional Ultimate JetCharters flights scheduled to fly migrants from Texas to Delaware were canceled. [15]
Initially, the migrants stayed at a St. Andrew's Episcopal Church shelter on Martha's Vineyard. [13] [16] The woman who runs the shelter told NPR, "Everything from beds to food to clothing to toothbrushes, toothpaste, blankets, sheets. I mean, we had some of it ... but we did not have the numbers that we needed." High-school Spanish students assisted as translators. [13] Some migrants said they were promised jobs on Martha's Vineyard; when they arrived, peak employment season was over, and part-time residents were leaving. [17] Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker then helped them voluntarily relocate by ferry to Joint Base Cape Cod where support services existed. [18] [19]
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, a Democrat, launched an investigation into the incident; Salazar alleged that a Venezuelan migrant was paid to recruit 50 migrants from a resource center in San Antonio, the county seat of Bexar County, to travel to Florida and eventually Martha's Vineyard. [20] Governor DeSantis responded to the allegations, saying the migrants were not misled: "They all signed consent forms to go and then the vendor that is doing this for Florida provided them with a packet that had a map of Martha's Vineyard, it has the number for different services that are on Martha's Vineyard." [20]
On October 13, Salazar signed certifications that the immigrants were victims of a crime, which qualified them for U visas. [21]
On September 20, 2022, the 50 migrants filed a class action lawsuit against DeSantis and Florida's secretary of transportation in a Massachusetts federal trial court, arguing that the Florida governor and his administration "manipulated [the migrants], stripped them of their dignity, deprived them of their liberty, bodily autonomy, due process and equal protection under the law, and impermissibly interfered with the Federal Government’s exclusive control over immigration in furtherance of an unlawful goal and a personal political agenda". The suit ultimately seeks to have the judge declare DeSantis's actions unconstitutional and prohibit Florida from fraudulently transporting migrants across state lines. [22]
DeSantis's spokesperson responded by saying the migrants had all signed a consent form, and called the lawsuit "political theater" by "opportunistic activists" at the expense of illegal immigrants. He added: "If these activists spent even a fraction of this time and effort at the border, perhaps some accountability would be brought to the Biden Administration's reckless border policies that entice illegal immigrants to make dangerous and often lethal journeys through Central America and put their lives in the hands of cartels and Coyotes." [23]
Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the Northeastern United States, located south of Cape Cod in Dukes County, Massachusetts, known for being a popular, affluent summer colony. Martha's Vineyard includes the smaller adjacent Chappaquiddick Island, which is usually connected to the Vineyard. The two islands have sometimes been separated by storms and hurricanes, which last occurred from 2007 to 2015. It is the 58th largest island in the U.S., with a land area of about 96 square miles (250 km2), and the third-largest on the East Coast, after Long Island and Mount Desert Island. Martha's Vineyard constitutes the bulk of Dukes County, which also includes the Elizabeth Islands and the island of Nomans Land.
Wilson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 49,753. Its county seat is Floresville. The county is named after James Charles Wilson. Wilson County is part of the San Antonio–New Braunfels, Texas, metropolitan statistical area.
Bexar County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in South Texas and its county seat is San Antonio.
Crestview is a city in Okaloosa County, Florida, United States. The population was 27,134 at the 2020 census, up from 20,978 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Okaloosa County. With an elevation of 235 feet (72 m) above sea level, it is one of the highest points in the state; it receives 65 inches (1,700 mm) of rainfall annually, the second-most of any city in the state of Florida, after Fort Walton Beach with 69 inches.
Mexican Texas is the historiographical name used to refer to the era of Texan history between 1821 and 1836, when it was part of Mexico. Mexico gained independence in 1821 after winning its war against Spain, which began in 1810. Initially, Mexican Texas operated similarly to Spanish Texas. Ratification of the 1824 Constitution of Mexico created a federal structure, and the province of Tejas was joined with the province of Coahuila to form the state of Coahuila y Tejas.
Gregory Wayne Abbott is an American politician, attorney, and former jurist serving as the 48th governor of Texas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 50th attorney general of Texas from 2002 to 2015 and as a member of the Texas Supreme Court from 1996 to 2001.
The Convention of 1833, a political gathering of settlers of Mexican Texas, was a successor to the Convention of 1832, whose requests had not been addressed by the Mexican government. Despite the political uncertainty succeeding from a recently-concluded civil war, 56 delegates met in San Felipe de Austin to draft a series of petitions to the Alamo. The volatile William H. Wharton presided over the meeting.
The San Antonio River is a major waterway that originates in central Texas in a cluster of springs in midtown San Antonio, about 4 miles north of downtown, and follows a roughly southeastern path through the state. It eventually feeds into the Guadalupe River about 10 miles from San Antonio Bay on the Gulf of Mexico. The river is 240 miles long and crosses five counties: Bexar, Goliad, Karnes, Refugio, and Wilson.
Sanctuary city refers to municipal jurisdictions, typically in North America, that limit their cooperation with the national government's effort to enforce immigration law. Leaders of sanctuary cities say they want to reduce fear of deportation and possible family break-up among people who are in the country illegally, so that such people will be more willing to report crimes, use health and social services, and enroll their children in school. In the United States, municipal policies include prohibiting police or city employees from questioning people about their immigration status and refusing requests by national immigration authorities to detain people beyond their release date, if they were jailed for breaking local law. Such policies can be set expressly in law or observed in practice, but the designation "sanctuary city" does not have a precise legal definition. The Federation for American Immigration Reform estimated in 2018 that 564 U.S. jurisdictions, including states and municipalities, had adopted sanctuary policies.
Reverse Freedom Rides were attempts in 1962 by segregationists in the Southern United States to send African Americans from southern cities to mostly northern, and some western, cities by bus. They were given free one-way bus tickets, and were promised guaranteed high-paying jobs and free housing. Those promises were intended to lure African Americans in. In reality, there was no guaranteed free housing or jobs waiting for them. Some of those arriving were able to find work; most could not.
Ultimate Air Shuttle is an airline based in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is the operating name of Ultimate Jetcharters LLC, an FAR Part 135 air charter carrier. Ultimate Air Shuttle previously operated public charter flights on a published schedule, serving key business routes from Cincinnati Municipal Lunken Airport that were reduced by Delta Air Lines and Comair. The airline suspended operations from late 2020 to mid 2021 and again from December 16, 2021, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on business travel.
Ronald Dion DeSantis is an American politician and former military officer serving since 2019 as the 46th governor of Florida. A member of the Republican Party, DeSantis represented Florida's 6th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2013 to 2018.
Ángel Navarro (1748–1808) was a leading early Spanish settler and patriarch of San Antonio, Texas. The Navarro family played a prominent role in the Mexican and Texas revolutions. He was born in Corsica in 1748 and settled in Spanish Texas in 1769. Navarro was the seventy-second alcalde (mayor) of San Antonio under Spanish Texas.
Canarian Americans are Americans whose ancestors came from the Canary Islands, Spain. They can trace their ancestry to settlers and immigrants who have emigrated since the 16th century to the present-day United States. Most of them are descendants of settlers who immigrated to Spanish colonies in the South of the modern US during the 18th century. The Canarians were among the first settlers of the modern United States; the first Canarians migrated to modern Florida in 1569, and were followed by others coming to La Florida, Texas and Louisiana.
The 2022 United States elections were held on November 8, 2022, with the exception of absentee balloting. During this U.S. midterm election, which occurred during the first term of incumbent president Joe Biden of the Democratic Party, all 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the U.S. Senate were contested to determine the 118th United States Congress. Thirty-nine state and territorial U.S. gubernatorial elections, as well as numerous state and local elections, were also contested. This was the first election affected by the 2022 U.S. redistricting that followed the 2020 U.S. census. The Republican Party narrowly won control of the House, while Democrats slightly expanded their majority in the Senate.
Ronald Adrian Nirenberg is an American politician who is the mayor of San Antonio, Texas. Prior to his election, Nirenberg served as a member of the San Antonio City Council for District 8 for two terms.
The state of Texas has a long history of immigration and immigration policy. The region that is now Texas was originally home to several Native American tribes. The first European immigrants arrived in the 1600s when the land was colonized by the French and the Spanish. Financial incentives created by the Mexican government brought many immigrants to Mexican Texas in the 1820s, mostly from slaveholding areas in the southern United States. This continued as significant illegal immigration to Mexico after 1830, when American migrants were banned.
The political positions of Ron DeSantis have been recorded from his 2012 United States House of Representatives elections and his tenure as Representative, the 2016 United States Senate election in Florida, and during his tenure as governor of Florida. DeSantis is considered a conservative Republican.
The following is a list of events from the year 2022 in the United States.
On June 27, 2022, 53 migrants were found dead in and around a tractor-trailer near Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, United States. The deaths, caused by heat exposure and asphyxiation, reportedly occurred during an apparent illegal migrant smuggling attempt across the U.S.–Mexico border. It is the deadliest smuggling incident of its kind in United States history.
