Sixteen illegal aliens were taken from Texas to New Mexico, then flown by private chartered jet to California. They were dropped off on the doorstep of a local church in Sacramento. The church had no advance notice of their arrival. An investigation has been opened by the governor and attorney general to determine who is behind this action. Allegedly they had documentation “purporting to be from the government of the State of Florida,” according to California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

Bonta released a statement confirming that an investigation has been opened and his office is “evaluating potential criminal or civil action against those who transported or arranged for the transport of these vulnerable immigrants.” Governor Newsom said that the circumstances around who paid for the group’s travel expenses and whether or not they were “misled with false promises” will be investigated. Why do I get the feeling that this is something they are looking to pin on Governor DeSantis? It sounds like they are trying to build a case out of nothing, making it a political dirty trick now that DeSantis has officially launched his campaign.

Sacramento Area Congregations Together (ACT), a non-profit group of local religious congregations, said that the migrants are from Venezuela and Colombia. They were flown by private jet to Sacramento airport and taken by bus to the front office of the Diocese of Sacramento. According to ACT, they had been in El Paso, Texas, at a migrant center and approached by people representing a private contractor. They said they could help them in getting to a migrant center that would provide jobs and free support. The migrants are men and women between the ages of 20 and 30. They didn’t know each other before they were “recruited” by the people in El Paso, according to ACT spokesperson Cecilia Flores.

That is the story from ACT, anyway.

They were driven to New Mexico, where they stayed the night at a hotel Thursday, and were flown by a private plane to Sacramento on Friday morning. Upon arrival at the airport, they were driven by bus to the church office.

Once they were dropped off, the driver rang the doorbell of the building, telling the group they would be right back, but “the bus pulled away and they never came back,” Flores told CNN. One of the migrants told Flores they attempted to reach the driver through a contact number they were given, but the driver’s cell phone was no longer working.

They were “shaken up” after being dropped off at the diocese, she said.

“They started to ask, ‘What city is this? What state are we in?’” Flores said, adding they only had their backpacks and the clothes on their backs. “Many of them did not know Sacramento was in California,” she said, “I believe they were just told, ‘We’ll take you to this refuge where they’ll be able to help you.’ I’m not sure if they even knew how far they would be traveling.”

Bonta said that California and the Sacramento community “will welcome these individuals with open arms and provide them with the respect, compassion, and care they will need after such a harrowing experience.” Good. That takes pressure off of Texas. How many more migrants would Bonta and Newsom like? Bonta calls this “state-sanctioned kidnapping” and that is an interesting take on the situation. What does he call it when DHS transports illegal aliens around the country? Bonta and Newsom are quick to accuse Florida or Texas as being behind this group of illegal aliens coming into their state. Who is to say that DHS didn’t do it? DHS flies people into communities without alerting local officials. Where is the outcry over that from sanctuary city and sanctuary state officials when they receive people?

Such a small number of migrants – only 16 – seems unusual if it is the action of officials in Florida or Texas. It’s true that Florida officials were behind two jets carrying illegal aliens to Martha’s Vineyard but those jets were loaded with about 50 people. Another point to consider is that Governor Abbott has been using buses to transport illegal aliens to sanctuary cities. That is what makes me think that DHS is behind this effort. They regularly fly people into places for relocation reasons. It is also a little fishy that no one is taking credit for it. Usually Governor Abbott acknowledges buses going out of Texas when they arrive in sanctuary cities and he takes the opportunity to blast Biden for his failure to protect America’s sovereignty at the southern border.

Clearly the person (s) behind the action knew where to leave the migrants – at the doorstep of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento. NGOs are all-in on assisting illegal aliens. They lecture on the moral obligations Americans have and should welcome these people and they make a tidy sum of money for doing so. Groups like ACT are in the forefront in the debate about illegal immigration. Virtue-signaling and criticizing people for wanting secure borders and immigration laws to be followed is wrong. Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg took a superior tone in his remarks.

“Whoever is behind this must answer the following: Is there anything more cruel than using scared human beings to score cheap political points?” Steinberg said in a statement. “Sacramento represents the best of American values. We always welcome ‘the tired, the poor, and the huddled masses,’ and we always will.”

Most Americans welcome migrants – legal migrants. America is the most generous country when it comes to immigration policy, typically welcoming at least a million legal immigrants each year. Open border advocates often conflate illegal immigration with legal immigration. The majority of Americans just want Biden to do his job to secure the southern border and DHS to enforce current immigration laws. It’s not an unreasonable expectation.