Doubts rise over whether DeSantis had budget authority to fly migrants

Fresno CA

Description

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has defended flying nearly 50 mostly Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard in part by saying that Florida lawmakers gave him $12 million for such transports. Yet the transports, which triggered widespread outrage from Democrats and launched an investigation by a Democratic sheriff in Texas, sparked ongoing questions about whether DeSantis had carried out the program as the Republican-controlled Legislature intended. Much of the focus is on budget language that state lawmakers wrote to authorize the flights. Specifically, state Democrats and others are questioning whether the flights were legal since they originated in Texas and not Florida. According to the budget language, the $12 million DeSantis is using was specifically earmarked to “facilitate the transport of unauthorized aliens from this state consistent with federal law.” The law also specified that the flights should be used to transport “unauthorized aliens” — but lawyers speaking on behalf of the migrants say many who were flown to Martha’s Vineyard are seeking asylum, which puts them in a different category legally.