Officials are investigating whether Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis was behind a flight that picked up asylum-seekers on the Texas border and flew them — apparently without their knowledge — to California’s capital, even as faith-based groups scrambled to find housing and food for them. California Attorney General Rob Bonta says about 20 adults, mainly from Venezuela, were flown by private jet to Sacramento on Monday. Sixteen other migrants arrived Friday. They are the latest apparent instances of a Republican-led state transporting migrants to one controlled by Democrats. DeSantis and other Florida officials haven't confirmed their involvement but last year they flew 49 Venezuelan migrants to Massachusetts from a Texas shelter.

“The Republican governors of Texas and Arizona have previously sent thousands of migrants on buses to New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C., but the rare charter flights by DeSantis mark an escalation in tactics. The two groups sent to Sacramento never went through Florida. Instead, they were approached in El Paso by people with Florida-linked paperwork, sent to New Mexico, then put on private flights to California’s capital, California officials and advocates said.”

“As the migrants arrived in California Monday, a Texas sheriff’s office announced it has recommended criminal charges over the two flights to Martha’s Vineyard last year. Johnny Garcia, a spokesman for the Bexar County Sheriff’s Office, said that at this time the office is not naming suspects. It’s not clear whether the local district attorney will pursue the charges, which include misdemeanor and felony counts of unlawful restraint, according to the sheriff’s office.”