DeSantis Says He 'Can't' Confirm Reports of Migrant Plane to Delaware

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wouldn't confirm Tuesday that he's planning to send a chartered flight of undocumented immigrants to President Joe Biden's home state of Delaware, like last week's dropoff at Martha's Vineyard, but he did defend spending state budget money for transporting migrants.

"I cannot confirm that, I can't," the Republican said in Melbourne, Florida, when he took questions from the media about the latest rumors, reports FloridaPolitics.com.

The Delaware News Journal reported Tuesday that state officials are preparing for the possibility of a plane full of migrants coming to the Delaware Coastal Airport from Texas.

Biden on Tuesday, when asked about the reports that DeSantis was sending migrants from Texas to his state, said the GOP governor should make a trip there himself sometime, reports The Hill.

"He should come visit," Biden told reporters. "We have a beautiful shoreline."

The Tampa Bay Times, reporting on the possibility of a flight, said that as of noon eastern time, the charter flight appeared to be delayed and was still on the ground at a regional airport near Longview, Texas, and had not reached San Antonio yet.

The newspaper reported that the charter's destination appears to be a Delaware airport near Biden's vacation home. According to data posted on the FlightAware website, the plane, which can hold about 30 people, was chartered by Ultimate JetCharters, the same company that arranged the two flights to Martha's Vineyard last week on behalf of the state of Florida.

Last week, when DeSantis sent a pair of flights of illegal immigrants to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, the charter flights also originated in Texas and stopped in Florida's panhandle.

DeSantis Tuesday also defended the plan to program $12 million of state budget money, coming from interest money sent last year to the state from Biden's $1.9 trillion stimulus bill saying the move may not be the "ultimate solution" to immigration, but it is "opening people's eyes to the solution."

DeSantis has been criticized by many opponents who say he and Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, who has been sending immigrants to New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago, are acting as "human traffickers."

"When Biden was flying these people all over the fruited plain in the middle of the night, I didn't hear a peep out of those people," DeSantis said Tuesday. "The only thing I hear them getting upset about is you have 50 who ended up in Martha's Vineyard. Then they get really upset!"

He also commented that "sanctuary jurisdictions should bear the brunt of the open borders."

The migrants set to Martha's Vineyard were "provided the ability to be in the most posh sanctuary jurisdiction in the world," he added, but said the residents there "deported them."

The immigrants were sent to Joint Base Cape Cod, Massachusetts, for shelter and care, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican, said.

DeSantis said to prepare for more of the one-way trips, which will originate in Texas.

"We have a whole infrastructure in place," he said. "It's not just flights. We have ground. We have other things that we can do. It's already made more of an impact than anyone thought it could possibly make."

• Gov. DeSantis: I'll Send Migrants to Delaware
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