A second plane carrying migrants arrived in Sacramento on Monday, with transport arranged by the state of Florida, according to California officials.

Over the weekend, more than a dozen immigrants from South America were dropped off in Sacramento on charter flights from New Mexico.

The weekend flights were arranged through the Florida Department of Emergency Management and are part of California Atti, a state plan to relocate immigrants, mostly from Texas, to other states, according to documents carried by the migrants. It is shown that General Rob Bonta said.

The program’s contractor, Vertle Systems, coordinated a similar flight last year that took dozens of Venezuelan asylum seekers from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, he said.

Mr. Bonta’s office said on Monday that a second plane with about 20 people on board had landed in Sacramento.

“Special agents from the California Department of Justice are on the scene and are in contact with these individuals,” the agency said in a statement. “The contractor operating the plane that arrived today appears to be the same contractor that transported the migrants last week. As was the case with the migrants arriving Friday, the migrants arriving today also involved the state of Florida in transporting them to California. I had a document with me that showed what I had done.”

The office of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis did not respond to calls or emails from The Times seeking comment, nor did it say what role, if any, the Republican presidential candidate played on the plane. is also unknown.

But Bonta said the blame lay with DeSantis.

In an interview with The Times on Sunday, Mr. Bonta didn’t hold back, blaming Mr. DeSantis, who ran for president last week, for the incident.

“This is Governor DeSantis. This is his baby. This is his project. His fingerprints are all over the place,” Bonta said. “The governor signed it, Congress approved the funding for the budget, and hired a vendor, his Vertol Systems Co., to get the work done.”

He added, “DeSantis is just being himself, advertising to the world that he is mean and despicable, hurting, harming, abusing and exploiting people for cheap political gain.” Full of political stunts. It’s wrong.”

Calls to Mr. Burtle and the Florida Emergency Management Agency were not returned.

The 16 Venezuelan and Colombian migrants on the first flight were initially transported by bus from El Paso to New Mexico, where they boarded flights to Sacramento, officials said. They were dropped off at the doorstep of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento on Friday.

Their arrival will fuel controversy over similar ploys by conservative politicians in Republican-led states, although no politician or organization has yet publicly claimed responsibility.

They and their supporters said the effort was meant to raise awareness about immigration flowing across the southern border and raise the issue with Democratic-led state officials. Opponents describe the move as a brutal political stunt that uses immigrants as pawns, keeping them miles away from their families, resources and even the courts they are expected to appear for asylum claims. .

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said in a statement on Saturday that he and fellow Democrat Bonta met with more than a dozen immigrants on Saturday. Mr Newsom said his office and the California Department of Justice were investigating “who paid for the group’s travel expenses and who orchestrated the trip to mislead anyone with false promises or violate criminal law, including kidnapping.” We are cooperating to investigate the situation, such as whether the

Mr Bonta’s office confirmed it was under investigation. He said the office is “considering the possibility of criminal or civil action against those who transported or arranged for transport of these vulnerable migrants.”

Bonta said on Sunday migrants, most of them Venezuelans, told authorities they had been promised jobs and someone would help them find them. Instead, the group was dropped off at a Catholic parish. Bonta said someone from the parish opened the door and the two men said “go back” and drove off, leaving a group of immigrants behind.

“They weren’t going to help me find a job at all, but they said they were going to get me on the plane, sign the paperwork, and drive me to Sacramento,” Bonta said. “They completely exploited, abused and manipulated vulnerable people who dreamed and wanted jobs but ended up being abandoned by saying they would help them find them. .”

Mr Bonta said the migrants are receiving legal aid services as some of them will have an immigration court date in the next few days. Some court dates extend as far as New York and Chicago.

“They’re nowhere near Sacramento,” he said.

Mr. Bonta talked about an immigrant he met. He said the man from Venezuela played a voicemail from his 9-year-old daughter, who told her father in Spanish, “I haven’t eaten in a day and I’m hungry.” said to have told She said her mother was sick and needed help.

Recalling the conversation, Mr. Bonta said the man did not come to the United States to receive benefits. He said he came looking for a job to support his family in his hometown.

The situation in Sacramento plays out against the backdrop of a fierce public debate about how to deal with the influx of immigrants who cross the Mexican border into the United States each year. The debate culminated in similar efforts championed and supported by Republican governors such as Texas Governor Greg Abbott and DeSantis to evacuate thousands of immigrants and spark widespread controversy in recent years. ing.

In September, Mr. Abbott bussed about 100 immigrants to Washington, D.C., and dropped them off outside the U.S. Naval Observatory, the home of Vice President Kamala Harris. That same month, Mr. DeSantis, now the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, sent a group of immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard, a haven for wealthy liberals off the coast of Massachusetts. Last year, eight Venezuelan immigrants were flown from Texas to Sacramento. Activists said the move was not part of the efforts of Mr. Abbott or Mr. DeSantis.

Mr. Newsom used to attack Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Abbott over the many issues that divide the country, including immigration, LGBTQ+ rights, gun control and abortion. He launched a political action committee this year aimed at helping Democrats running for office in red states. In a video announcing the effort, with images of Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Abbott playing on the screen, Mr. Newsom said “authoritarian leaders” were a problem for the country.

Bishop Jaime Soto of the Diocese of Sacramento said in a statement on Saturday that the diocese is working with other organizations to help new arrivals.

“The urgency of a response has reached the ears of Catholics and people of good will,” he said. “We thank our partners for devoting their time and resources to the work of sacred hospitality so that all immigrants do not feel alone or abandoned.”

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg called for an investigation into the incident in a statement on Saturday.

“Human trafficking is not only despicable; it is a felony. Is there anything cruel to you?” he said.

Steinberg’s statement said the city will continue to be a welcoming place for disadvantaged people like the 16 migrants who arrived on Friday.

“Sacramento represents the highest of American values,” he said. “We have always welcomed ‘the tired, the poor, the assembled masses’ and will continue to do so.”

Times staff writer Laila Seidman contributed to this report.