DeSantis is not stopping his migrant charters. And Biden world can't do a thing about it.

[Governor Swill]

On 25 Sep 2022, "Leroy N. Soetoro" <democrat-

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/25/biden-faa-desantis-

migrants-

marthas-vineyard-00058691
There’s probably little the Federal Aviation Administration can do

to stop

DeSantis from continuing the flights, people familiar with the

agency’s

legal authorities say.
The company that Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis used to send dozens

of

migrants to Martha’s Vineyard operates charter flights under

approvals

granted by federal transportation regulators who have almost

absolute

power to regulate safety in the skies.
But there’s probably little the Federal Aviation Administration

can do to

stop DeSantis from continuing the flights, people familiar with

the

agency’s legal authorities say — even though President Joe Biden

and other

Democrats have condemned the flights as cruel publicity stunts.
The same laws that give the Federal Aviation Administration its

vast sway

over air safety also restrict its ability to intrude otherwise

into the

operations of charter companies. And the migrant flights probably

don’t

violate the FAA’s regulations, former agency officials say,

despite

accusations that DeSantis and his operatives violated the

migrants’ civil

rights.
The FAA itself has shown little eagerness to join the fray. When

asked to

discuss the bounds of the agency’s authority on DeSantis’ gambit,

a

parent, the Department of Transportation, referred back to the

FAA’s

statement.
The predicament showcases some of the limits on Biden’s authority

to

counter the increasingly brash moves of Republican governors who

are

sending undocumented immigrants to heavily Democratic communities.

Besides

DeSantis, governors using the tactic include Greg Abbott of Texas,

who has

bused thousands of migrants to cities such as Washington, New York

and

Chicago in recent months, as well as Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey.
The governors have said they’re calling attention to what they

charge is

the failure of Biden’s border policies.
A civil rights law firm filed a federal class-action suit against

DeSantis

on Tuesday over the two planeloads of migrants, mostly

Venezuelans, who

landed on Martha’s Vineyard on Sept. 14 after being transported

from

Texas. Multiple Democratic elected officials have urged the

Justice

Department to investigate the Florida governor’s actions, while

Biden has

accused Republicans of “playing politics with human beings, using

them as

props.”
But the FAA is not best equipped to lead that fight, people

knowledgeable

about the agency say.
“I don’t see FAA in this at all,” said one former agency official,

who

spoke on condition of anonymity so that he could speak freely

about the

agency’s business.
For a charter service to operate, the FAA has to deem its fleet

airworthy

and the company’s maintenance and operations practices adequately

safe.

Only then does the agency issue a certificate saying it can carry
passengers for hire.
The DOT must separately issue a certificate saying the company has
adequate financial backing to serve consumers.
If a charter company flies for hire without either of those

approvals, the

FAA considers it a “rogue operator” that it “works aggressively to
identify and shut down,” according to the agency.
That doesn’t necessarily offer it much leverage over Ultimate

JetCharters,

the company that conducted the Martha’s Vineyard flights as a
subcontractor for Vertol Systems Co. Ultimate JetCharters received

federal

approval to carry passengers for hire in 1984, according to the

National

Air Transportation Association, an industry trade group.
Vertol, an Oregon-based flight and maintenance training and

aviation

support services company, received $615,000 from the state of

Florida to

facilitate the flights. The funds were part of a $12 million

budget

allocation the Florida Republican-led Legislature approved to

transport

migrants.
The former FAA official said nothing that’s come to light about

the

migrant charters indicates that any problems arose related to the

“safety

of flight” — meaning the ability to ensure that passengers arrive

at their

destination without their plane crashing. The FAA has in the past
suspended or revoked charter companies’ ability to operate for

having

inadequately licensed and trained pilots, using aircraft that the

agency

had not approved for use, ignoring rules limiting pilot flight

hours and

other violations.
The FAA has some authority to regulate what commercial airplanes

carry,

and to punish operators that don’t follow the rules. But those

rules

primarily involve cargo, particularly hazardous materials such as

lithium

batteries.
If a charter company breaks other laws in the course of

transporting goods

or people, that would likely fall to either DOJ or the Department

of

Homeland Security.
DOJ declined to comment on whether it was investigating or

otherwise

pursuing action related to the charter flights. A spokesperson for

DHS did

not respond to a request for comment.
Former FAA chief counsel Sandy Murdock said the agency would

ground a

charter company for issues unrelated to air safety only if another

law

enforcement body has gotten involved. For instance, if a person

used a

charter flight to smuggle drugs, the FAA would not be in a

position to

revoke the charter company’s operating certificate until the DOJ

brought

charges, he said.
In general, he said acting on issues not directly related to a

plane’s

safety to fly is a high bar for the agency to meet — and that’s

why it

doesn’t happen often.
“The agency has rarely used collateral statutes to ground or

revoke or

suspend the operator’s certificate,” said Murdock, now a legal

adviser at

JDA Aviation Technology Solutions. “The theory would be that the

operator

showed such a disregard for another law that it can be inferred

that its

disregard of that statute would likely extend to the aviation

safety

requirements.”
Murdock said that in such an instance, it would be “absolutely

critical

that the operator was aware of the charterer’s illegal

intentions.”

Senate Homeland Security Chair Gary Peters (D-Mich.), who said he

plans to

speak with DHS about the migrant flight issue, acknowledged that

the FAA’s

power to intervene is limited. For example, he said, the agency

would not

have the authority on its own to ground a flight of migrants

heading from

one state to another.
When asked if any laws should change in light of the migrant

flights,

Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), who serves on the Commerce Committee

that

oversees the FAA, was likewise unsure whether Congress needs to

change any

laws in an attempt to curtail or prevent the situation.
“What Governor DeSantis is doing is disgusting. And he and other
Republican governors are using political decisions to treat people

like

garbage,” Luján said. “And that’s what this is all about. So

looking at

specific rules or changes, I don’t know what’s going to change

their

behavior. That’s what needs to be evaluated.”

ENFORCE FEDERAL LAW YOU TREASONOUS FUCKING DEMOCRAT ASSHOLE FEDERAL
EMPLOYEES!

The first former FAA official observed that DOT does have a

broad-based

consumer protection authority that it can use to enforce rules and

hand

out penalties based on “unfair or deceptive practices,” but that

it may

not apply in this case.
The plaintiffs in this week’s civil rights suit allege that

DeSantis and

other Florida officials used “false promises and

misrepresentations” to

get the asylum-seekers onto the plane for Massachusetts, including

by

offering them $10 McDonalds gift cards and making “false promises

and

false representations” of employment, housing and educational
opportunities.
Even so, “I don’t know if you could argue that this was treating

consumers

improperly because the statute says unfair or deceptive practices

—

ordinarily that’s like, you told me the ticket was going to be

$200 and

instead you charged me $220,” the former official said.
“That’s consumer protection, but this is not really what the

controversy

is about,” the ex-official said, adding that in this case the

state of

Florida, not the migrants themselves, paid for the flights.
Alex Daugherty and Tanya Snyder contributed to this report.
OFFICE, ILLEGAL ALIEN, IMMIGRATION, JOE BIDEN, JOE BIDEN 2020,

FLORIDA,

CRIMINALS

[Governor Swill]

Post by Governor Swill
On 25 Sep 2022, "Leroy N. Soetoro" <democrat-

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/09/25/biden-faa-desantis-

migrants-

marthas-vineyard-00058691

<snip>

This is a forged post.

Swill