Video provided to Townhall from the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) shows how happy and thankful processed and released migrants were to be on the Florida-provided flight to Sacramento, California amid claims from Democrats they had been kidnapped or misled.
The video shows the migrants signing documents, taking selfies, and expressing gratitude for the flight and accommodations.
"We made it to California! Thank God!" one man can be seen saying on the tarmac.
When asked if they felt they had been treated badly, a group of them emphatically said, "No, they treated us super well."
BREAKING: The Florida Division of Emergency Management has provided video to @townhallcom showing the recent flight of migrants to California was voluntary and migrants expressing their gratitude for the flight.
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) June 6, 2023
"We made it to California! Thank God!" one man can be seen saying. pic.twitter.com/tVfLCxGeUP
"As you can see from this video, Florida's voluntary relocation is precisely that - voluntary. Through verbal and written consent, these volunteers indicated they wanted to go to California. A contractor was present and ensured they made it safely to a 3rd-party NGO. The specific NGO, Catholic Charities, is used and funded by the federal government," FDEM said in a statement.
"From left-leaning mayors in El Paso, Texas, and Denver, Colorado, the relocation of those illegally crossing the United States border is not new. But suddenly, when Florida sends illegal aliens to a sanctuary city, it's false imprisonment and kidnapping," FDEM added.
California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) has accused Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) of kidnapping the migrants and is having the state's attorney, Rob Bonta, to look to see if any charges can be filed against Florida. A second flight from Florida's program arrived in Sacramento on Monday.
.@RonDeSantis you small, pathetic man.
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 5, 2023
This isn't Martha's Vineyard.
Kidnapping charges?
Read the following. https://t.co/kvuxe8Fb6F pic.twitter.com/KyE1lJiIYo
This morning, a second flight of asylum seekers touched down in Sacramento.
— Rob Bonta (@AGRobBonta) June 6, 2023
We're investigating the circumstances by which they were brought to California.⁰
State-sanctioned kidnapping is immoral.
The relocation program is part of Florida's response to the ongoing border crisis. The first flight to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts caused a firestorm of kidnapping claims, but the consent forms signed by the migrants showed they understood they were voluntarily taking the flight to the northeastern state.
FL Gov. DeSantis’ office responds to the class action lawsuit that was filed in Massachusetts: “The immigrants were homeless, hungry, and abandoned – and these activists didn’t care about them then.”
— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) September 20, 2022
Office also provided the consent form for flight to MA: pic.twitter.com/r4ZpX3kHbz
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg (D) also said the flight was a form of human trafficking. When Townhall reached Steinberg Communications Director Andrew Kehoe to see if Steinberg had a response to the video, Kehoe said they had "no response" at this time.