DeSantis Dumps Desperate Asylum Seekers in Sacramento
Cruelty Is Always the Point for Republicans
The Republican contest to see who can be the worst human seeking the GOP nomination to run for President in 2024 came to California this week. Whew! I was beginning to think the GOP was only interested in our state’s deep pocketed donors, since we are apparently functioning as an ATM for much of the right.
Something of substance has occurred, namely kidnapping a bunch of migrants from Columbia and Venezuela and dumping them in Sacramento. Like a kid throwing a rock through a church window, the sender didn’t take credit or reveal their real identity.
From CBS News:
The young men and women were dropped off Friday outside the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento with only a backpack's worth of belongings each, said Eddie Carmona, campaign director at PICO California, a faith-based community organizing group that has been assisting the migrants.
The migrants had already been processed by U.S. immigration officials and given court dates for their asylum cases when "individuals representing a private contractor" approached them outside a migrant center in El Paso, Texas, Carmona said. They offered to help the migrants get jobs and get them to their final destination, he said.
"They were lied to and intentionally deceived," Carmona said, adding that the migrants had no idea where they were after being dropped off in Sacramento.
After meeting with the victims on Saturday, State Attorney General Rob Bonta and Gov. Gavin Newsom, learned they were transported from Texas to New Mexico and then flown by private chartered jet to Sacramento.
They were approached in El Paso by a private contractor after being processed by U.S. immigration officials and given court dates for their asylum cases. They’d played by the rules and were already headed elsewhere.
A ‘friendly’ contractor offered assistance in finding employment and promised they’d get to their final destination.
Attorney General Bonta issued a statement Saturday night, saying the migrants had documents "purporting to be from the government of the state of Florida:”
“State-sanctioned kidnapping is not a public policy choice, it is immoral and disgusting. We are a nation built by immigrants and we must condemn the cruelty and hateful rhetoric of those, whether they are state leaders or private parties, who refuse to recognize humanity and who turn their backs on extending dignity and care to fellow human beings.”
The flight to Sacramento, according to documents in Bonta’s possession, indicate the flight was arranged through the Florida Division of Emergency Management. The contractor for the program was Vertol Systems Co., which coordinated similar flights taking dozens of Venezuelan asylum seekers from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.
Gov. Newsom told reporters he is working with the California Department of Justice to find out who paid for the group's travel and "whether the individuals orchestrating this trip misled anyone with false promises or have violated any criminal laws, including kidnapping."
"We are working closely with the mayor's office, along with local and nonprofit partners to ensure the people who have arrived are treated with respect and dignity, and get to their intended destination as they pursue their immigration cases,"
Side Note: Now that Title 42 has ended, the number of migrants illegally crossing the southwest U.S. border is at its lowest point since the start of the Biden administration. A promised surge touted by Republicans failed to materialize.
So, whoever shipped these human beings seeking asylum to Sacramento just did it to be cruel, which everybody should know by now is the point of Republican politics these days.
Texas Gov. Abbott has been cheap about his performative punishment for migrants, using buses to transport them. Just last week a group sent from Texas was dumped on the streets of Denver, Colorado.
Florida Gov DeSantis, on the other hand, previously snatched asylum seekers from Texas, and flew them to Martha’s Vineyard. These involuntary travelers were also lured with promises of employment and relocation.
From the New York Times:
In June [2022], Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a budget that set aside $12 million to create a program for transporting unauthorized migrants out of Florida. He touted it as the highlight of the state’s new spending when it came to immigration.
But just three months later, the money was being used in a place far from Florida, in a very different way: rounding up Venezuelan asylum seekers on the streets of San Antonio and shipping them on private planes to Massachusetts.
The flights last month, carrying 48 migrants, attracted international attention and drew condemnation from Democrats as well as several legal challenges. Mr. DeSantis immediately claimed credit for what appeared to be a political maneuver — dumping dozens of asylum seekers on the doorstep of Northeastern Democrats who have resisted calls to clamp down on immigration.
So, on the theory of “if it quacks like a duck…” I’d say the wannabe GOP presidential nominee was behind this latest stunt. He’s been bragging about the Martha’s Vineyard stunt at campaign stops, so these human beings were almost certainly fodder for a future stump speech.
The migrants dumped in Sacramento were likely also a retaliation for the many public statements condemning DeSantis actions and policies made by Gov. Newsom.
From the Los Angeles Times:
Newsom has made a habit of attacking DeSantis and Abbott over a host of issues that divide the nation, including immigration, LGBTQ+ rights, gun control and abortion. He launched a political action committee this year aimed at supporting Democrats running in red states. In a video announcing the effort, Newsom said “authoritarian leaders” are a problem for the country as images of DeSantis and Abbott flash across the screen.
Gov. Ron DeSantis seems determined to “improve” on the Trump model of cruel and brazen governance, running on a record that involves book banning, ending academic freedom, and assigning second class citizenship to Black people, Hispanics, the LGBTQ community, women and more.
It’s important to remember in the face of media coverage purporting to “both sides” these behaviors that the actual policies involved are not popular with a majority of Americans. It’s important to always point out just how unAmerican and extremist these concepts are and remember that hateful rhetoric is often a projection of what these politicians really are.
Meanwhile, in the real world…
Tomorrow we have CHRIS CHRISTIE, the former New Jersey governor and 2016 presidential candidate, making an expected announcement at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire, followed by a Wednesday two-fer, with former VP MIKE PENCE planning a kickoff speech in Des Moines and North Dakota Gov. DOUG BURGUM teasing a “special announcement” in Fargo.
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What will it take to end the Teamsters bus driver strike in San Diego? Via the San Diego Union Tribune.
My thought: The strike is completely justified. This story offers the details.
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No. 5: Why progressives and urbanists should love MLB's new rules Via Brentan Dentino’s ‘Out in Left’ Substack. This is the newsletter I never knew I needed.
It’s impossible to pinpoint their effects, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the average game time first exceeded two hours following the rise of cars, planes, and stadium lights. The innovations dispelled the game’s hard stops, and more time at the ballpark made sitting in car traffic to and from the game almost worth it. It’s as if the 20th-century suburb seeped into baseball’s bones. By the 2010s, when Pedro Baez took nearly two minutes to throw a single pitch, baseball was your neighbor’s second car exploiting free street parking—no matter how much you stared at it and cursed its owner, it wouldn’t move.
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How can Congress regulate AI? Erect guardrails, ensure accountability and address monopolistic power Via The Conversation. (My Note: Short of nationalizing Google, et.al.)
Rather than create a new agency that runs the risk of becoming compromised by the technology industry it’s meant to regulate, Congress can support private and public adoption of the NIST risk management framework and pass bills such as the Algorithmic Accountability Act. That would have the effect of imposing accountability, much as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and other regulations transformed reporting requirements for companies. Congress can also adopt comprehensive laws around data privacy.
Regulating AI should involve collaboration among academia, industry, policy experts and international agencies. Experts have likened this approach to international organizations such as the European Organization for Nuclear Research, known as CERN, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The internet has been managed by nongovernmental bodies involving nonprofits, civil society, industry and policymakers, such as the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and the World Telecommunication Standardization Assembly. Those examples provide models for industry and policymakers today.
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It occurs to me that if the asylum seekers entered the USA in El Paso and were given court dates, then presumably they have to be in El Paso for their hearings. So there's complication. A private charted jet? How much did that cost the taxpayers of FL? I think the DOJ needs to charge both Gov Abattoir and Gov DeathSentence with human trafficking.