Contract Suggests Florida to Continue Relocating Illegal Immigrants for Months

A Florida Department of Transportation purchase order shows that the Sunshine State will continue relocating illegal immigrants for at least eight more months.

The purchase order signed at the beginning of September by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) with Vertol Systems Co., a comprehensive transportation service provider, states that the contract will be executed “until June 30, 2023.”

However, it’s stated in the contract that FDOT could cancel the order if the department finds the company’s performance to be unsatisfactory.

Vertol was retained to provide “transportation-related and humanitarian relocation service to implement a program to facilitate the transport of unauthorized aliens,” according to FDOT.

“The proposed Services include, but are not limited to, Project management, aircraft, crew, maintenance logistics, fuel, coordination and planning, route preparation, route services, landing fees, ground handling and logistics, and other Project-related expenses,” the contract reads.

The document was first obtained by Sun Sentinel through a public records request.

It shows three tiers in the price schedule: $325,000 per flight for up to eight passengers, $485,000 per flight for up to 25 passengers, and $625,000 per flight for up to 65 passengers.

The total budget for the illegal immigrant relocation program is $12 million.

It has caused huge numbers of illegal immigrants to enter the United States without many difficulties.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported that their agents made more than 2 million apprehensions at the southern border this fiscal year until August—up by 24 percent from the previous fiscal year.

Texas and Florida, two states governed by Republicans, have begun to relocate illegal immigrants to high-profile Democratic cities or places.

Destinations that Texas chose include New York and Vice President Kamala Harris’s neighborhood in Washington. Florida has sent 48 illegal immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard, where former President Barack Obama bought a mansion in 2019.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bused illegal immigrants to a location near Harris’s Washington residence after the vice president said the border is secure.

New York Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, declared an “asylum seeker state of emergency” on Oct. 7, citing the surge in the inflow of bused illegal immigrants from other states.

Adams called for the federal and state government to grant emergency aid to handle the continued influx of asylum-seekers, which may cost the city $1 billion in the current fiscal year.

“With more than 17,000 asylum seekers bussed to the city since the spring, the Adams administration estimates that once the asylum seekers from today’s buses are provided shelter, the city will surpass the highest number of people in recorded history in its shelter system,” New York City Hall said in a statement. “If the pace continues, the city’s shelter census will surpass 100,000 in the coming year.”