Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, during a surprise Wednesday visit to Arizona’s southern border, defended his administration’s decision to fly migrants to California but did not respond directly to the sharp criticism aimed at him by that state’s governor.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, called DeSantis a “small, pathetic man” for arranging the flights while Newsom and other state officials have suggested criminal charges could come in the wake of two flights that shipped migrants to Sacramento.
Florida had remained silent about the two flights, which started Friday, until Tuesday when the state released a video of migrants signing documents, waving and smiling on a plane, party bus or limousine. A spokesperson for the state agency that hired a contractor to organize the flights said all asylum seekers boarded the plane voluntarily.
DESANTIS BREAKS HIS SILENCE ABOUT CALIFORNIA MIGRANT FLIGHTS:
Almost five days after that first flight, DeSantis weighed in on the transports after he was asked about it in Arizona.
“These sanctuary jurisdictions are part of the reason we have this problem because they have endorsed and agitated for these types off open border policies,” DeSantis said. “They have bragged they are sanctuary jurisdictions. They attack the previous admin efforts to try to have border security … When they have to deal with some of the fruits of that they all of a sudden become very, very upset about that.”
Earlier: Sanctuary Cities Seethe as Illegal Immigrants Actually Arrive.
The surest sign that public policies are simply virtue signals is when the messages don’t cost anything. The easiest way to tell when that signal starts to fail is to watch politicians flounder as the costs start to rise and voters demand relief.
It was free—and meaningless—for progressive churches to post banners calling themselves “nuclear free zones” during the Reagan era. Their dwindling congregations loved it. It was free, after George Floyd‘s murder, to post woke catechism signs on your front lawn, proclaiming “In this house, we believe: Black Lives Matter, women’s rights are human rights, no human is illegal” and so on. Maybe the neighbors gave you high-fives. And for years it has been free for deep-blue cities to proclaim themselves “sanctuaries” for illegal immigrants. That’s changing now that voters want some sanctuary for themselves.
Changes like this happen when voters realize the old virtue signals actually entail serious costs—and that they will have to pay them. That is exactly what’s happening in New York City and Washington D.C. now that Texas governor Greg Abbott is sending those cities a few busloads of illegal immigrants from his state.
These progressive bastions were silent when the Biden administration flew planeloads of illegal immigrants to suburban airports in the middle of the night. TV coverage was prohibited, and the arrivals were secretly dispersed. Abbott’s buses, by contrast, arrive downtown greeted by local TV crews. Now you can hear the politicians screech.
Or as America’s Newspaper of Record noted: Newsom Says It’s Cruel And Unusual To Fly Immigrants To California.