South American migrants who were flown to California went voluntarily after giving written and verbal consent, Florida officials said Tuesday.
The migrants arrived in Sacramento on two charter flights in recent days, drawing the ire of California officials and the state's governor, who have called the move "state-sanctioned kidnapping."
But in a video released Tuesday by Florida's Division of Emergency Management, migrants can be seen signing paperwork and celebrating their arrival in California.
"We made it to California! Thank God! Very thankful to God!" one man says in Spanish in the video, posted by the division on Rumble.
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The video shows the migrants celebrating while riding in the back of a vehicle as music blares, smiling on the plane, and being asked if they were treated poorly on their journey.
"No. They treated us super well," they reply in Spanish.
"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," Florida Division of Emergency Management's Amelia Johnson said in a statement.
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But officials in California claim the migrants were flown to Sacramento under allegedly false pretenses.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said he's investigating whether criminal or civil charges can be pursued, and Gov. Gavin Newsom tweeted that kidnapping charges could be on the table.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and state lawmakers approved state funding to transport immigrants to other states that have "sanctuary city" policies. Last year, Florida flew a plane of migrants to Martha's Vineyard.
“To see leaders and governments of other states and the state of Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis, acting with cruelty and inhumanity and moral bankruptcy and being petty and small and hurtful and harmful to those vulnerable asylum seekers is blood-boiling,” Bonta said in a Monday interview.
But in her statement, Johnson said Florida has been relocating migrants in a similar manner as other states.
"From left-leaning mayors in El Paso, Texas, and Denver, Colorado, the relocation of those illegally crossing the United States border is not new," Johnson said. "But suddenly, when Florida sends illegal aliens to a sanctuary city, it's false imprisonment and kidnapping."
A 2017 California law officially made it a "sanctuary state" for undocumented migrants. Sacramento has also declared itself a "sanctuary city."
