Mystery private jet of migrants arrives in Sacramento
California officials launched an investigation after more than a dozen migrants were flown to Sacramento on a mystery private jet on Saturday and “dumped on the doorstep of a local church without any advance warning.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta met with the group Saturday, who had documentation “purporting to be from the government of the State of Florida,” Bonta said in a release.
The group was taken from Texas to New Mexico before being flown by private jet to California “with no prior arrangement or care in place,” Bonta said.
Officials are investigating and “evaluating potential criminal or civil action against those who transported or arranged for the transport of these vulnerable immigrants,” according to the statement.
In a separate statement, Newsom said that they will be working with the Sacramento mayor’s office, as well as local and nonprofit partners “to ensure the people who have arrived are treated with respect and dignity and get to their intended destination as they pursue their immigration cases.”
“My Administration is also working with the California Department of Justice to investigate the circumstances around who paid for the group’s travel and whether the individuals orchestrating this trip misled anyone with false promises or have violated any criminal laws, including kidnapping,” Newsom said.
Authorities have not said what countries the migrants originated from.
“California and the Sacramento community will welcome these individuals with open arms ad provide them with the respect, compassion, and care they will need after such a harrowing experience,” Bonta said.
Bonta said that the investigation will continue, noting that “state-sanctioned kidnapping is not a public policy choice, it is immoral and disgusting.”
“We are a nation built by immigrants and we must condemn the cruelty and hateful rhetoric of those, whether they are state leaders or private parties, who refuse to recognize humanity and who turn their backs on extending dignity and care to fellow human beings,” Bonta said.
“California and the Sacramento community will welcome these individuals with open arms and provide them with the respect, compassion, and care they will need after such a harrowing experience.”
The incident comes as migrants shipped off by Republican governors have been arriving unannounced in Democratic states. New York City is bursting at its seams, housing over 45,000 asylum seekers in various shelters across the city.
On Friday, two migrants died of apparent overdoses outside a mega migrant shelter in Brooklyn — a six-story commercial building that was opened in March to handle the migrant crisis, cops said.
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