Florida governor sends planes of immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard

On Wednesday afternoon, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sent a pair of planes carrying immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard, a luxury island vacation destination in Massachusetts. DeSantis is the third governor from a Republican state—behind Doug Ducey of Arizona and Greg Abbott of Texas—that has transported groups of immigrants to urban areas in the Midwest and East Coast. Officials from Martha’s Vineyard say they are coordinating with locals in the area to provide shelter and other necessities to the immigrants.

Why did DeSantis send the planes? Like the other Republican governors, DeSantis said that red states bear a disproportionate burden when it comes to the record-breaking volumes of immigration that have crossed the southern border in the past year—an issue that isn’t as easily felt or seen in areas like New York, Washington, D.C., or a getaway like Martha’s Vineyard. The act of bringing immigrants to these eastern cities, DeSantis said, is an attempt to remind the country that Florida isn’t a sanctuary state.

Dig deeper: Read my report on the border town of Yuma, Ariz., and Governor Ducey’s temporary solution to mend holes in the southern border wall.