Monday 26 September 2022 05:05 PM Pete Buttigieg calls Ron DeSantis' Martha's Vineyard migrant flights a 'stunt' trends now
Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg sought to dismantle Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' arguments for sending a planeload full of migrants to Martha's vineyard – calling it a 'stunt' that was hurting people 'to get attention.'
The Biden cabinet member blasted DeSantis by name and cast the move as self-serving, speaking at a Texas Tribune festival in a state where Gov. Greg Abbott has also shipped migrants to Washington, DC, Chicago, and New York.
'Obviously, there are issues with the border and with migration, but these are the kinds of stunts you see from people who don't have a solution,' Buttigieg said, earning applause from an audience.
'Like, Gov. DeSantis was in Congress. Where was he when they were debating immigration reforms? What have any of these people done to be part of the solution? So, I get if you're after attention. It's one thing to call attention to a problem when you have a course of action,' Buttigieg told Texas Tribune CEO Evan Smith at the event.
'It's one thing if that was just being obnoxious. But human beings are being impacted,' Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg said, blasting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' move to fly Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha's Vineyard
'It's another to just call attention to the problem because the problem is actually more useful to you than the solution and that helps you call attention to yourself,' he said.
'That's what's going on. It's one thing if that was just being obnoxious. But human beings are being impacted.
'You flee a communist regime in Venezuela, you come here and then somebody tricks you - somebody using Florida taxpayer money for some reason, tricks you from going from Texas to Massachusetts. It's not just ineffectual. It is hurting people in order to get attention.'
Buttigieg appeared to be suggesting that DeSantis undertook the move this month to boost his own political prospects as he considers a run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
Biden himself called the move 'unAmerican' and said it was 'playing politics with people's lives.'
Abbott has also gained national attention through his own efforts to bus 11,000 migrants to liberal enclaves. His office shot back that Buttigieg 'knows nothing about Texas' busing operations and needs to stay in his
