Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody sent a letter Thursday to Attorney General Merrick Garland asking him to not open a federal criminal investigation into her state's migrant shipping scheme. File Photo By Gary I Rothstein/UPI |
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July 14 (UPI) -- Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody is asking the Department of Justice to reject California's request that it open a criminal investigation into her state's scheme to ship migrants to Democrat-led cities.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, last week called on Attorney General Merrick Garland to open a federal criminal investigation into flights chartered by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that transported dozens of migrants and asylum seekers from Texas to Massachusetts Martha's Vineyard and California's Sacramento.
Newsom and his attorney general, Rob Bonta, have accused DeSantis of using the asylum seekers as "political props." They have also questioned whether DeSantis could be charged with kidnapping as some of those flown from Texas to Sacramento and Martha's Vineyard were allegedly deceived into boarding the planes based on false promises of jobs and shelter.
In her response letter to the Department of Justice on Thursday, Moody called California's request "a ridiculous political stunt." She defended the migrant shipping scheme as "lawful" and that California's letter does not identify a specific law that was violated by the scheme.
"It is jarring that California is not competent enough to articulate even a minimal legal basis for its request," she said.
The Republican attorney general also framed such a criminal probe as a political investigation and that if Garland decides to launch one "Florida stands ready to fight against DOJ's overreach," she said.
DeSantis charted migrants to Sacramento in early June with the flights to Martha's Vineyard having occurred in September. In May, the Republican governor also signed into law Senate Bill 1718, immigration-related legislation that, among other things, gives him $12 million for his Unauthorized Alien Transport Program.
California has launched its own investigation into the Sacramento flight, while the sheriff's office for Bexar County, Texas, has recommended that the district attorney file charges after its investigation into the Martha's Vineyard flight concluded that migrants were induced to accept free travel based on false representations that they'd receive housing, education and employment.
