Ron DeSantis is being hit with not one, but two bilingual ads slamming his mistreatment of migrant children and adults, including his sick political stunt luring vulnerable people onto flights to Martha’s Vineyard. The Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC) Votes launched the six-figure campaign across central and south Florida this week.
“These families had legally applied for asylum at the border, many of whom had fled the Maduro dictatorship in Venezuela, only to be falsely lured with promises of housing and other opportunities if they agreed to take the flights,” the narrator said in one ad, titled “Deceived.” But “none of it was true,” the narrator continues.
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The “Deceived” ad states that this transportation of migrants to Massachusetts under false pretenses “was another DeSantis political stunt that cost Florida taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars,” and warns that “he’s not done yet.”
“DeSantis has promised to spend $12 million of the taxpayers’ dollars to relocate migrants from the state, and said he would use “every penny” of the money. Is that what Florida stands for: Wasting taxpayers dollars to use children as political pawns?”
The second ad, “Valores,” or “Values,” features Norah Lossada, a Venezuelan-American and Floridian denouncing DeSantis’ attack on migrant children who have arrived to the U.S. without their parents. Months before going to Texas in search of a problem, DeSantis issued an order blocking the license renewals of federally funded facilities where these kids are held while they wait to be placed with a sponsor, a decision prolonging how long these kids are kept from reuniting with relatives. DeSantis’ overall war on these children earned the condemnation of Thomas Wenski, Archbishop of Miami.
“My name is Norah Lossada,” she says in the ad. “I am Venezuelan. Florida is built on the foundation of immigrants. Regarding Governor DeSantis' decision to support and keep children separated from their families once they arrive in this country, I think it’s a completely incorrect decision. I wouldn't vote for DeSantis because he's not a person that I think represents the values of the state of Florida.”
“FLIC Vote’s latest ad campaign against DeSantis is part of the organization’s multi-prong campaign against DeSantis and Republicans in the state, which includes GOTV to turnout Latino voters in the state,” the organization said in a statement received by Daily Kos.
Some of the very smart political pundits and mainstream outlets that have previously fawned over DeSantis might also try to convince us this transportation of human beings as perceived punishment against Democratic rivals is yet another oh-so-savvy move from the Florida man, but polling has found Republicans are split on the issue. “Overall, 29% of Americans supported the practice and 40% opposed,” Reuters and Ipsos polling said. Among Republicans, slightly more than half approved.
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