Florida Authorities Paid $615,000 for Migrants to Be Transferred to Martha's Vineyard, Docs Reveal

Florida, Texas, and other southern US states, along with Arizona, have been criticizing what they see as the Biden administration's inadequate border security. The Florida governor, for instance, has already promised to send migrants from his state to the Democratic states, and even to the president's native Delaware.

The administration of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis last week paid an aviation firm $615,000 as part of a new Florida program to remove individuals without permanent legal status outside of the state, records have revealed.

Vertol Systems Company Inc. was paid on September 8, according to those records. A week later, DeSantis claimed responsibility for bringing 48 migrants, the majority of whom were from Venezuela, to Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, a popular summer vacation spot for the wealthy and powerful.

According to a Tampa Bay Times' report, the Florida Department of Transportation, which earlier this year received $12 million to transport "unauthorized aliens from this state" to other parts of the country, made the payment, which according to records was for a "relocation program of unauthorized aliens." The company's participation in the scheme is reportedly not apparent.

DeSantis confirmed for the first time that the migrants who were sent to Martha's Vineyard were a part of a "voluntary transportation they’re signing up for" at a news conference on Friday. The Florida lawmakers who approved the publicly sponsored program to transfer migrants also added a demand that migrants be moved from the state in Florida's budget, which the governor also urged for the second time this week.

pic.twitter.com/hfdYEU8MAj

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) September 16, 2022

Most of the migrants, according to DeSantis, "are intending to come to Florida, they are coming to Florida, we’re taking them from Florida to sanctuary jurisdictions," he told reporters.

In Florida, we take what is happening at the southern border seriously.

We are not a sanctuary state, and we will gladly facilitate the transport of illegal immigrants to sanctuary jurisdictions. pic.twitter.com/YeEbMzy8yG

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) September 15, 2022

According to the Tampa Bay Times, however, those who arrived as migrants in Martha's Vineyard claimed to have traveled from Texas before boarding the aircraft. A migrant reportedly claimed that an unnamed woman offered to drive them to a location where she claimed they would receive better service. They added that the woman claimed she was waiting until they reached a specific threshold of passengers to fill the plane's seats and enable them to make the flight.

A red folder containing two maps of the US with a red line connecting Texas and Massachusetts on it was also provided to migrants. There was a red dot in the center of the map of Martha's Vineyard.

In addition to the transfer of migrants to Martha's Vineyard, the weekend's events also saw another bus transporting migrants from Texas pulled up outside Vice President Kamala Harris' official residence at the Naval Observatory in Washington, DC on Saturday. The bus was dispatched at the direction of Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

There were about 50 immigrants on the bus, including children, as reported by Washington news station WUSA9.

The Texas governor's actions have been denounced by the White House as a "cruel, premeditated political stunt," with DeSantis and other Republicans supporting him having come under heavy fire.

President Joe Biden's immigration and border security policies, in turn, have been consistently criticized by Abbott and DeSantis for the crisis.