DeSantis makes appeal to GOP base with migrant move as he faces reelection and eyes 2024

CNN — By arranging to fly two planes of migrants onto the tony island of Martha’s Vineyard on Wednesday, Gov. When he laid out his immigration agenda at a December news conference, DeSantis teased Martha’s Vineyard as a potential destination, saying, “It’s somewhat tongue-in-cheek but it is true, if you sent to Delaware or Martha’s Vineyard or some of these places, the border would be secure the next day.” And last month, DeSantis telegraphed that Florida’s involvement in moving migrants might start at the southern border, not with people who had arrived in his state. “We do have money to be able to do, but that’s from people from the southern border, that’s not going in the interior of Florida,” DeSantis said at an August press conference. “Think about the governor of Florida, one of the largest states in the nation, spending his time hatching a secret plot to ship up 50 immigrants here, families, some of them children as young as four, and use them as political pawns just so he can get on Tucker Carlson and beat his chest about how he’s tough on immigration,” Massachusetts state Rep. Dylan Fernandes, a Democrat, said Thursday morning on CNN. Democratic gubernatorial nominee Charlie Crist said, “Everything Ron DeSantis does is to score political points with his hard right base in a thinly veiled attempt to run for President – but it’s Floridians who pay the price.” This is not the first time DeSantis has waded into the country’s divisive immigration debate in a way that has maximized exposure for the Republican governor while costing taxpayers.