Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has been at the forefront of national news and controversy as of recently. During an election season, his state has been pummeled by Hurricane Ian, which has displaced thousands, killed hundreds, and leaves the Sunshine State in limbo as its previously existing issues concerning housing and insurance are amplified as damage costs could be the highest of any storm in 30 years. 

Prior to the hurricane making landfall, DeSantis was also in national headlines as he recruited a former Army veteran and counterintelligence agent that the New York Times identified as Perla Huerta, who was responsible for the recruitment of over 50 Venezuelan migrants to be flown from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. 

The transportation of migrants is a part of DeSantis’ new fiscal budget for the state entitled the “Freedom First Budget.” He is following in the same footsteps as his Republican counterpart, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who also has been responsible for the transportation of over 10,000 migrants to major Democratic city hubs across the country. 

As of now, New York, Washington D.C., and Chicago have taken thousands of migrants in with no warning from Abbott as he goes against Democrats alike and the Biden Administration over what he sees as the lack of clamping down on immigration along the U.S. Southern border. 

As a result of DeSantis’ recent actions on migrants, a Florida immigrant advocacy group, the Immigrant Coalition Votes, FLIC, have launched a digital advertising campaign going against the governor’s treatment of migrants in not just the Martha’s Vineyard fiasco, but throughout his time as governor, which goes back to 2019. 

The ads come after DeSantis has been rather complementary and friendly with the President and his administration following the aid it’s given to Florida in relief efforts after Hurricane Ian. In the aftermath of the hurricane, he has seemingly put aside political conflicts and has been on good terms with national Democrats as a result.

The group, according to The Hill, spent over six figures on two digital advertisements that currently live on YouTube. One of the ads titled, “Deceived,” goes against his Martha’s Vineyard scheme while the other, “Valores,” or ‘values,’ goes against his actions of reducing temporary care for unaccompanied migrant children, which is usually the case for migrant families coming into the country. 

Both ads are currently running in Southern and Central Florida, where most of the state’s Latino and immigrant population resides. 

In “Deceived,” a woman narrator talks through the governor’s recent migrant flight fiasco. 

“Gov. Ron DeSantis is under fire for luring immigrant children and families and relocating them from the Texas border to Martha’s Vineyard,” it starts. 

“These families had legally applied for asylum at the border, many of whom had fled the Maduro dictatorship in Venezuela,” she adds. 

In “Valores,” Venezuelan-American Norah Lossada is featured. She has previously written about her experience fleeing Nicolás Maduro’s government in Venezuela, and addresses the change in temporary care rules at the hands of DeSantis, which advocates have said will further cause families to remain separated for longer periods of time. 

“Regarding Governor DeSantis’s decision to support and keep children separated from their families once they arrive in this country, I think it’s a completely incorrect decision,” she told The Hill. 

“I wouldn’t vote for DeSantis because he’s not a person that I think represents the values of the state of Florida,” she continued. 

DeSantis has gone against the idea that those like Lossada, who are fleeing from totalitarian and communist governments, are not an exception to be rightfully allowed to enter the States, but the majority of people say otherwise. 

According to a poll from Civiqs for the Immigration Hub, 63% of all Americans say people who flee authoritarian or communist countries should be allowed sanctuary in the States. 

In addition, 86% of Democrats agreed with that idea, as did 57% of independents and 41% of Republicans. Other findings include 65% of Latino voters saying that migrant relocations by DeSantis and Abbott are merely “political stunts.” 

All this will play a factor in the upcoming elections this November, as DeSantis seeks reelection and could potentially throw his hat in the ring for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2024.