Jacob Ogles
With President Joe Biden campaigning in Tampa, Attorney General Ashley Moody says he owes Florida an explanation of an immigration program allowing migrants to be flown into Florida airports.
She called for the press to ask Biden about the program.
“Attention all Florida media: Do not let Joe Biden leave Tampa today until you have asked him why he has flown the vast majority of aliens within his illegal direct flight program into Florida and why he keeps doing that despite unvetted criminals committing murders and rapes,” Moody posted on X.
She then linked to a Fox News story about a Haitian immigrant facing murder charges in New York for allegedly killing two people while awaiting an appearance in immigration court.
But her social media post more relevantly referenced a recent Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) report that shows a disproportionate number of migrants interacting with the Homeland Security Department have ended up on flights to Florida.
A CIS analysis of public Customs and Border Protection data shows at least 386,000 migrants were allowed entry into the U.S. at the southern border and were then flown to parts of the interior U.S. to await immigration court dates.
Of those, CIS said 326,000 migrants flew to Miami, the most popular destination by far. Houston was in second place with about 22,000 flights.
Of note, Gov. Ron DeSantis immediately after the study was published called the program “illegal” and “problematic.” But he also said the hundreds of thousands flying to Miami through the program are not remaining in Florida.
“We have not seen large numbers in our communities all of a sudden, like you’ve seen in New York and Chicago and some of these other (cities),” DeSantis said at a press conference in Polk City. “And so that may be the case that he’s bringing people in under this illegal parole program and then they’re migrating to sanctuary jurisdictions that could be happening,”
However, CIS analysts figured that most coming to Florida would end up staying in the Sunshine State.
“Many of the landing Cubans, Venezuelans, and Haitians will obviously choose to stay in Florida, where expatriate communities are already large. But some percentage of the newly ‘legalized’ aspiring border crossers who land there and in Texas, New York, and California likely transfer to domestic flights to their final destinations across the nation,” the report said.
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A.G. Gancarski of Florida Politics contributed to this report.
3 comments
Dont Say FLA
April 23, 2024 at 4:23 pm
What up with Assley no comprendoing anything? She thinks voting is too confusing and constantly requests things be mansplained to her. She just might be in over her head if you ask me.
Claire
April 23, 2024 at 8:27 pm
Perhaps Ashley could direct a few questions to her buddy Ron down the hall. She could start by asking why he’s not arranging any more state-funded charter flights to Martha’s Vineyard for illegals in Florida, like he did for all those out-of-state migrants in 2022. I mean c’mon, where is the top-shelf treatment Ron DeSantis was giving illegals this time last year? Where was Ashley when Ron was trafficking out-of-state illegals with Florida taxpayers’ money?
I’d love to see Ashley stand up for the ‘rule of law’ and actually mean it. She should use her power for the betterment of society, not the betterment of other politicians who are just like her. Can anyone remember a single time Ashley Moody won a legal argument before the Florida Supreme Court unless she was merely defending a state law that already passed?
It’s really cute that she fancies herself such a justice warrior. But her record (as a litigator and politician alike) might as well be filed away under “Sorry, Karen.”
Dont Say FLA
April 24, 2024 at 3:38 pm
I wonder if Assley’s law degree was on baseball scholarship like Rhonda’s? Both their legal win loss records are terrible.