George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said there is no case for criminally charging Texas Gov. Greg Abbott or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over their transporting of illegal immigrants to Democrat-run cities.
“I don’t see a case, unless they can establish some systemic coercion or fraud, there’s really not a federal crime here,” Turley told Fox News on Monday. “They can find individual cases that might be somehow actionable, but what the state has said is that they have express consent for these flights.”
The governors have come under fire after sending hundreds of immigrants to cities such as Chicago, Washington, D.C., and New York City. Most recently, DeSantis flew immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard, and Abbott sent buses to the Naval Observatory, where Vice President Kamala Harris resides.
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Texas authorities opened an investigation into whether the immigrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard are victims of a crime.
Turley noted that the immigrants’ consent for travel negates any criminal charges.
“There are rational reasons why someone would want to leave the border area, which has been, it just has this influx of undocumented migrants, and go to areas that might have better employment possibilities or better levels of support, and you know, what they are arguing here is that this is an illegal transport of migrants,” Turley said. “If that was the case, then Joe Biden would be the biggest coyote ever. Right?”
“I mean he’s transferring thousands of people across the country. Also, public interest organizations transfer migrants,” Turley added.
Turley noted that the hot topic of transporting immigrants is a political matter.
“What’s really concerning for me is that this is not literally human trafficking,” Turley said, explaining that there is no known exploitation of the immigrants for sex or labor. “That is literally nonsense, and we do have some obligation to tell the public what the law is. This was a political — some people can call it political stunt — but the federal code does not make political irony a crime. You’re going to have to deal with it as a political matter, not as a criminal matter.”
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Turley also pointed out that California Gov. Gavin Newsom has transported homeless people to other states to help solve an overpopulation problem there.
“Transportation of individuals occur all the time in the federal government,” Turley said.
