This Letter to the Editor was published in The Daily Sun on Feb 20, 2023.
Governor DeSantis and the the GOP-controlled Legislature is at it again with another piece of proposed bad legislation. Specifically, the Unauthorized Alien Transport Program. This piece of ill conceived legislation would allow the use of taxpayer dollars to transport undocumented migrants located anywhere in the country to anywhere else in the country. Note that there’s no requirement that the migrants actually be in Florida or even intending to go to Florida.
DeSantis’s initial foray into transportation of migrants i.e. the flights from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard has ready cost the taxpayers $1.6 million paid to Vertol Systems (per Florida State records) for the aircraft and crews that flew them there (that works out to something like $35,000 per person). Also, note that this cost does not include the amount of $1 million already paid to date to out-of-state lawyers in defending Gov.r DeSantis from the lawsuits that have already been filed by the people who were transported. Ask yourself: Did the people of Florida really get value for their money from this little stunt? How many more of these flights do you want at this cost?
It is obvious that DeSantis is planning a run for president in 2024 and that these flights are nothing more than showboating for his intended voter base.
DeSantis and the GOP love to talk about financial responsibility, however, the Alien Transport Program doesn’t seem very responsible.
If Governor DeSantis and the state Legislature feel that strongly about transporting migrants, then let them pay for it out of their own pockets.
Ross Long, Rotonda West
Image Credits: USA Today
