Yes, Florida does have a migrant relocation program. Here's what you need to know about it

Florida Governor and presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis is speculated to have been responsible for the relocation of more than a dozen migrants who ended up in California after traveling from Texas to New Mexico over the weekend.

California authorities are investigating the incident after they discovered documentation tying the migrants to Florida.

"While this is still under investigation, we can confirm these individuals were in possession of documentation purporting to be from the government of the state of Florida," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a statement.

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The migrants, who were flown to Sacramento and dropped off in front of the Roman Catholic Church diocese’s headquarters, had already been processed by officials and had received court dates for their asylum cases, according to the Associated Press.

DeSantis made sweeping changes to Florida’s immigration laws in May after he signed SB 1718 into law that, among other things, allocated $12 million to the state’s Unauthorized Alien Transport Program.

The Division of Emergency Management has already picked three companies to execute the program, ARS Global Emergency Management, GardaWorld Federal Services and the company that carried out last year's migrant flights to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts: Vertol Systems Company Inc.

Here’s what you need to know about the program and why it exists.

What is Florida’s migrant relocation program?

Florida’s migrant relocation program is called the Unauthorized Alien Transport Program. The program is overseen by the Division of Emergency Management and facilitates the transport of “inspected unauthorized aliens” within the U.S.

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What is an ‘inspected unauthorized alien?’

The legislation defines “inspected unauthorized aliens” as an individual who has documentation from U.S. officials indicating that they have been processed and released into the country without admitting the person per the federal Immigration and Nationality Act.

How is Florida’s migrant relocation program funded?

Florida’s new immigration law allocated a nonrecurring sum of $12 million from the General Revenue Fund to be used for the program. The General Revenue Fund is the state’s collective source of money, except for trust funds and the Budget Stabilization Fund. Nonrecurring general revenue funds are funds that are not expected to be available on an ongoing basis.

However, the true cost of the program will exceed those allocated funds. The program has already generated multiple legal challenges. Florida has paid two law firms more than $640,000 in legal fees for DeSantis’ relocation of nearly 50 Venezuelan migrants from San Antonia, Texas to Martha's Vineyard.

Florida has already paid nearly $1.6 million to Vertol, which is based in Destin. When combined with the legal costs, that means the state has spent more than $45,000 per flown migrant.

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Why is DeSantis relocating migrants?

DeSantis has said the flights were in protest of President Joe Biden’s “reckless” border security policies and has contended that it's more effective to intercept migrants at the Texas border than to track them down when they arrive in Florida.

How does the program work?

The companies selected, according to the request for proposals, must "provide ground and air transportation and other related services... to assist in the voluntary relocation of Inspected Unauthorized Aliens that have agreed to be relocated from Florida, or another state, to a location within the United States.”

The related services include research and planning, ensuring those relocated have provided voluntary consent, and arranging social support at the destination.

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Did Ron DeSantis send migrants to Sacramento, California?

It was unclear who is responsible for flying the migrants to Sacramento. California Attorney General Rob Bonta said that the situation is still under investigation, but indicated the migrants had documentation that appeared to have been issued by Florida. He also stated that he is looking into whether violations of civil or criminal law took place.

The AP reported that the migrants’ documents said they were transported through a program run by Florida’s Division of Emergency Management and carried out by contractor Vertol Systems Co.

Neither Vertol Systems nor DeSantis’ office responded to requests for comment from the AP and the Tallahassee Democrat.

DeSantis sent migrants to Martha’s Vineyard

DeSantis drew national attention in September when his administration arranged for nearly 50 migrants to be flown from Texas to Martha's Vineyard.

DeSantis bragged about sending "illegal aliens to beautiful Martha's Vineyard" during his recent presidential campaign swing through Iowa. He has characterized the migrant flight as a way to impress on liberal communities the impacts of illegal immigration, while critics decried the move as a callous stunt that uses people as political pawns.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: DeSantis was blamed for flying migrants to California. Here's why