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TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom slammed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Monday, calling him a “small, pathetic man” in response to an investigation seeking to determine whether the Florida government played any role in sending more than a dozen migrants to the California capital without advance notice.
In a tweet, Newsom said the Democrat-led state “isn’t Martha’s Vineyard,” referring to two sets of migrant flights previously organized and paid for under DeSantis’ administration.
In those flights, about 49 mostly-Venezuelan migrants were flown to the Massachusetts island where former President Barack Obama owns a mansion. Local officials weren’t told in advance that the migrants were coming.
Newsom also questioned whether kidnapping charges would be appropriate under the state’s definition of the law.
“Every person who, being out of this state, abducts or takes by force or fraud any person contrary to the law of the place where that act is committed, and brings, sends, or conveys that person within the limits of this state, and is afterwards found within the limits thereof, is guilty of kidnapping,” the law states.
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Reports suggest the 16 Colombian and Venezuelan migrants who turned up at the Roman Catholic Church diocese’s headquarters in Sacramento on Friday would be the latest to have been moved from a Republican-led state to one led by Democrats.
The migrants had documents that appeared to be issued by the state of Florida, though the circumstances surrounding their arrival was still under investigation, Attorney General Rob Bonta said Saturday.
“While we continue to collect evidence, I want to say this very clearly: State-sanctioned kidnapping is not a public policy choice, it is immoral and disgusting,” Bonta said in a statement.
WFLA has reached out to the Florida Office of the Governor for comment and is waiting on a response.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
