DeSantis' Migrant Flight a 'Craven' 2024 Campaign Effort: Miami Beach Mayor

Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber criticized Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Sunday over his decision last week to send two planes carrying migrants to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.

The planes carried around 50 migrants, including children, mostly from Venezuela, who DeSantis sent to Martha's Vineyard as part of an effort to blast the Biden administration's U.S.-Mexico border policies.

In an interview on MSNBC on The Katie Phang Show, Gelber, a Democrat, was asked about the migrants, and noted that he is in Massachusetts by coincidence and was recently asked about DeSantis.

"I was wearing my Miami Dolphin hat and I literally got stopped by somebody who, I thought they were going to engage me about the New England Patriots, and they wanted to know if I was from Florida and what was wrong with my governor," he said.

"And of course, there's something very seriously wrong with our governor right now because he is treating children and families who are escaping really incredible trauma from Venezuela as political pawns in a very, very craven effort to, I guess, drum up support for an election in 2024," Gelber added.

DeSantis' move to send migrants to Martha's Vineyard earned him praise on the right and sharp rebukes from the left.

In a speech on Thursday, President Joe Biden blasted DeSantis and Texas Governor Greg Abbott for "playing politics with human beings" and for "using them as props."

Abbott has transported migrants—via bus—from his state to New York City, Chicago and Washington D.C. in recent days. Some of the migrants he has sent to D.C. have been dropped off in front of Vice President Kamala Harris' residence.

"We have a process in place to manage migrants at the border," Biden said during his speech. "Republican officials should not interfere with that process by waging these political stunts."

Newsweek has reached out to DeSantis' office for comment.

Defending his decision to send the migrants to Massachusetts, DeSantis, during a Thursday press conference, said he is helping migrants by aiding their transport to "sanctuary" jurisdictions. Sanctuary jurisdictions are cities and states that limit their cooperation with immigration authorities.

"If you have folks that are inclined to think Florida is a good place, our message to them is, we are not a sanctuary state, and it's better to be able to go to a sanctuary jurisdiction," he said. "And yes, we will help facilitate that transport for you to be able to go to greener pastures."

Meanwhile, in a statement emailed to Newsweek on Friday, DeSantis' spokesperson said that flying migrants out of Florida is part of the state's "relocation program," which is meant to ban human smugglers and traffickers, and "illegal aliens at the southern border" from coming into the state.

"Florida continues to litigate against Biden's catch and release policy and has initiated a statewide grand jury to examine the harmful impacts of illegal immigration across the state," the statement read.

Is DeSantis Planning to Run for President in 2024?

Though DeSantis and Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom haven't announced plans to run in 2024, they both appear to be positioning themselves for potentially taking part in the race. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have also hinted that they will run again in 2024.

In a poll by Yahoo News that was conducted between June 24 and June 27, 1,630 respondents were asked whether they would vote for Newsom or DeSantis if the 2024 elections were held today.

A total of 39 percent of respondents said they would vote for Newsom, compared to 36 percent who would choose DeSantis. Still, the Florida governor is more popular among independent voters as 38 percent of them said they would vote for him in a hypothetical presidential race as opposed to 33 percent of independent voters who would vote for Newsom.