'Punked': DeSantis keeps White House, Delaware and media guessing on migrant flight plans
The White House and the Delaware governor’s office were ready. So were the news media and political onlookers.
Everyone who gathered Tuesday at a small airport in Georgetown, Delaware, near President Joe Biden’s home, was waiting in anticipation of a planeload of migrants to be flown from San Antonio as part of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' program to send a message about illegal immigration.
But by late Tuesday, no plane had arrived. Instead, it landed in Teterboro, New Jersey, just outside New York City, where Biden was in town for the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting.
No migrants were aboard the plane.
Earlier in the day, DeSantis stoked the coals of speculation by declining to confirm or deny whether the plane would even take off — his administration later refused to say if the plane that landed in New Jersey was part of his program to relocate migrants — in an intentional effort to keep the issue alive, said a source familiar with the governor's thinking who discussed the plans anonymously to speak candidly.
“He didn’t tell anyone and purposely left people in the dark. So technically the media, the Democrats, everyone got punked who decided to heed some s--- on Twitter instead of waiting for confirmation from the governor’s office," the source said. "The entire point of this is to put a spotlight on the border. It’s what the governor has said.”
Just last week, DeSantis chartered two planes carrying about 50 migrants from the same city, San Antonio, to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, escalating a tactic first used by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has sent thousands of migrants to New York City, Chicago and Washington, D.C., liberal strongholds that bill themselves as “sanctuary cities” for migrants.
The “Waiting for Godot”-like spectacle Tuesday highlighted the intractable politics around immigration, as well as DeSantis’ knack for getting headlines and positioning himself to challenge Biden in 2024. While Abbott was the first GOP governor to send migrants to so-called sanctuary cities and states, DeSantis has gotten far more coverage of his new program — even though the migrants who landed in Martha's Vineyard boarded the planes in Abbott's state.
“If you believe in open borders, then it’s the sanctuary jurisdictions that should have to bear the brunt of the open borders,” DeSantis told reporters in Florida earlier Tuesday.
Even Biden made an off-the-cuff joke about speculation over the potential flight to Delaware.
“He should come visit. We have a beautiful shoreline,” Biden said of DeSantis when he was asked whether a group of migrants would get off a plane near his home.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre accused DeSantis of not wanting a workable, bipartisan solution on immigration. She said the White House was prepared to help Delaware.
“Our heads-up did not come from Gov. DeSantis, because his only goal is, as he’s made it really clear, is to create chaos and use immigrants fleeing communism as political pawns,” she said. “So it’s about creating political theater for him. It’s not about getting to a solution.”
A spokeswoman for Delaware Gov. John Carney, a Biden ally, said his office was aware of the possible flight and was ready to meet the challenge.
Delaware government officials said they hadn’t had any sort of communication from the governors of Florida or Texas.
An aide to Carney hung around Delaware Coastal Airport in Georgetown on Tuesday, refreshing a public flight-tracking website and telling reporters that she didn’t have any more information or knowledge about the events than what had been reported.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/imm...flig-rcna48627
Punked
