2nd plane carrying more than a dozen migrants lands in California capital
Originally Published: 05 JUN 23 18:14 ET
By Jacqueline Hurtado, CNN
(CNN) — A private plane carrying 20 migrants from Texas arrived in California’s capital city of Sacramento Monday morning, officials said – the second such arrival of migrants from a conservative state to land in the city in days.
“Special Agents from the California Department of Justice are on the ground and have made contact with these individuals,” said Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
According to a statement from the attorney general’s office, the 20 migrants had documents indicating their flight involved the state of Florida.
The attorney general’s office is working to confirm details about the migrants – including their nationalities – but said the plane that brought them to California was operated by the same contractor used in a charter flight that brought migrants to California on Friday, she added.
The 16 migrants who arrived Friday also had paperwork purporting to be from Florida.
Those migrants were taken from Texas to New Mexico, then flown in a private chartered jet to California, where they were “dumped on the doorstep of a local church without any advance warning,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.
They were originally from Colombia and Venezuela, officials said.
Bonta said previously it was investigating the first incident and “evaluating potential criminal or civil action against those who transported or arranged for the transport of these vulnerable immigrants.”
CNN has reached out to state officials from Texas and Florida for comment.
The circumstances around who paid for the group’s travel, and whether the migrants were misled with false promises, will be investigated, according to the governor.
On Monday, Newsom, a Democrat, called GOP Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is also running for president, a “small, pathetic man” in a tweet Monday, apparently referring to his alleged role in the first flight.
”.@RonDeSantis you small, pathetic man. This isn’t Martha’s Vineyard. Kidnapping charges?” Newsom tweeted, linking to a California penal code that indicates a person from out of state who transports someone else to California “by force or fraud” could be found guilty of kidnapping.
Last year, DeSantis sent two planes carrying migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. Migrants have also been bused from border towns to sanctuary cities in recent years with little to no notice.
The-CNN-Wire
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