“The air charter company Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration hired for his migrant-moving program has contributed big money to some top allies of the governor and was once legally represented by Rep. Matt Gaetz and his former partner, who is now Florida’s “public safety czar” in charge of immigration policy,” NBC News reported on Thursday, September 22, 2022.
“DeSantis’ administration has refused to release a copy of the $12 million contract with Vertol Systems Company Inc. for its role in administering the ‘unauthorized alien’ program … nor will the governor’s office comment on the nearly $1.6 million the company has received to send migrants to so-called sanctuary cities that welcome immigrants,” NBC News said (read story here).
News media have reported that Florida used federal Covid relief funds to pay Vertol $615,000 to ship 48 Venezuelan asylum seekers, legally in the U.S., from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. By simple division, that works out to $12,812.50 per person, which seems exorbitant. (I just looked up one-way flights from San Antonio to Boston on Expedia and got prices ranging from $248 to $542.)
So if you can fly 48 people from Texas to Massachusetts for $11,904 to $26,016, where did the other $589,000-plus of taxpayer money go? Vertol has donated to the Florida Republican Party and GOP candidates in the past, so it’s a safe bet that some of this taxpayer money will end up paying for GOP political campaigns.
Couple that with absence of competitive bidding, and I’d call that a kickback scheme.
And why is Florida flying migrants from Texas to Massachusetts, anyway?
Related story: Why DeSantis is baiting Biden on the border (read article here).