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Furious California officials warn they are weighing “potential criminal or civil action” after more than a dozen migrants were flown to Sacramento on a private jet and “dumped” outside Catholic Church offices.
The sixteen Venezuelan and Columbian migrants told an aid group that they entered the US in Texas, were processed and given court dates in their asylum cases.
The migrants were then approached outside an intake center by “individuals representing a private contractor” promising them help with jobs and traveling to their final destinations, aid workers said.
Instead, the group was taken to New Mexico, then flown on a chartered plane to California, where they were abandoned Friday outside the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento, each carrying only a small bag of possessions.
“They were lied to and intentionally deceived,” said Eddie Carmona, who works for PICO California, a faith-based community organization that has been assisting the migrants.
The group of asylum-seekers possessed documentation “purporting to be from the government of the State of Florida,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a press release.
“We are investigating the circumstances by which these individuals were brought to California. We are also evaluating potential criminal or civil action against those who transported or arranged for the transport of these vulnerable immigrants,” said the AG, who joined Gov. Gavin Newsom in meeting with the migrants Saturday.
“While we continue to collect evidence, I want to say this very clearly: State-sanctioned kidnapping is not a public policy choice, it is immoral and disgusting,” Bonta said.
He noted that the group was flown by private jet to California “with no prior arrangement or care in place.”
In a separate statement, Newsom said state officials will be working with the Sacramento mayor’s office, as well as local and nonprofit partners, “to ensure the people who have arrived are treated with respect and dignity and get to their intended destination as they pursue their immigration cases.
“My Administration is also working with the California Department of Justice to investigate the circumstances around who paid for the group’s travel and whether the individuals orchestrating this trip misled anyone with false promises or have violated any criminal laws, including kidnapping,” Newsom said in a statement.
Bonta added, “California and the Sacramento community will welcome these individuals with open arms and provide them with the respect, compassion, and care they will need after such a harrowing experience.
“We are a nation built by immigrants and we must condemn the cruelty and hateful rhetoric of those, whether they are state leaders or private parties, who refuse to recognize humanity and who turn their backs on extending dignity and care to fellow human beings.
“California and the Sacramento community will welcome these individuals with open arms and provide them with the respect, compassion, and care they will need after such a harrowing experience,” he said.
The incident comes as migrants shipped off by Republican governors, including in Texas and Florida, have been arriving unannounced in Democratic states. New York City is bursting at its seams, housing over 45,000 asylum seekers in various shelters across the city.
On Friday, two migrants died of apparent overdoses outside a mega migrant shelter in Brooklyn — a six-story commercial building that was opened in March to handle the migrant crisis, cops said.
With Post wires
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