Crist rips DeSantis over ‘cruel political stunt’ in new digital ad
“Lying to migrant children to lure them onto a plane to God knows where, treating families fleeing brutal socialist regimes like cattle, mocking their fight for freedom — it makes me sick — but sadly it’s not surprising. It’s who he is.”
Adding to a national uproar, U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist on Saturday released a digital ad blasting Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis for “his heartless move” to fly undocumented immigrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, calling it “a cruel political stunt to appeal to his base.”
“My faith teaches me that we’re all children of God,” says Crist, DeSantis’ Democratic opponent in the election on Nov. 8. “That is lost on Ron DeSantis. For him it’s always putting politics over peoples’ lives.
“Lying to migrant children to lure them onto a plane to God knows where, treating families fleeing brutal socialist regimes like
— U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist
cattle, mocking their fight for freedom — it makes me sick — but sadly it’s not surprising. It’s who he is,” Crist adds.
DeSantis’ move to transport the refugees from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard has drawn fire from Democrats, immigration lawyers and others, many of whom have questioned its legality.
Democrats have called for a federal investigation into the flights.
DeSantis on Friday defended the decision to use tax dollars that had been earmarked for pandemic relief on the operation, even though none of the migrants were actually in Florida. Public records show a private contractor was paid $615,000 to relocate the Texas migrants.
He vowed to spend “every cent” of the $12 million allocated by the Legislature to make sure migrants didn’t make it to his state and instead went to sanctuary cities and states. Martha’s
Vineyard, however, is not a sanctuary island.
He also said the migrants were not deceived and treated well, despite some of them telling reporters they were lied to about where they were going.
Crist, who filed a public records request for information about the flights, concludes the ad this way: “We must come together to defeat him [DeSantis]. To build a state we can all be proud of. A Florida that works for all.”