Ron DeSantis may have kidnapped migrants, Gavin Newsom writes to DOJ

On Thursday, DeSantis proudly announced that he had commissioned two planes to carry migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. Officials believe all of the migrants, who arrived on Wednesday, came from Venezuela. According to CNN, a local fire chief said that four children, ranging in age from four to eight, were among the roughly 50 migrants transported.

Martha’s Vineyard is a wealthy island that is not used to housing migrants. To hear DeSantis tell it, that may have been the point.

“Every community in America should be sharing in the burdens. It shouldn’t all fall on a handful of red states,” said DeSantis.

In response, Newsom wrote a letter to United States Attorney General Merrick Garland, calling on the Department of Justice to open a criminal investigation into the incident. In his letter, Newsom called DeSantis’ actions not just “morally reprehensible” but also maybe illegal.

Newsom cites allegations that the migrants may have been falsely promised “expedited access to work authorization.” If the migrants were lured onto the planes under false pretenses, Newsom believes the political stunt would amount to state-sanctioned kidnapping.

“I urge the US DOJ to investigate whether the alleged fraudulent inducement would support charges of kidnapping under relevant state laws,” wrote Newsom. The governor suggested a potential investigation could come under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) provisions of the Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, and the interstate travel at play gives the DOJ power to conduct such an investigation.

It wasn’t just Newsom who believed that DeSantis’ actions were grounds for criminal charges. Florida Commissioner of Agriculture and recent gubernatorial candidate Nikki Fried also wrote to the DOJ calling for an investigation.

The Martha’s Vineyard debacle is hardly an isolated incident. Conservative governors have been sending migrants to liberal enclaves with regularity: just hours after the planes landed in Martha’s Vineyard, two buses of migrants sent by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott arrived at Vice President Kamala Harris’ official D.C. residence.

While some may find it somewhat unusual for the governor of a non-impacted state to wade into the discussion (at no point in his letter did Newsom say that migrants were sent to California; the only location mentioned directly is Martha’s Vineyard), Newsom has been picking fights with high-profile Republicans of late ahead of a potential presidential campaign. DeSantis, also likely eyeing the presidency, has been one of Newsom’s main targets.