Sacramento, June 7 (RHC)-- Authorities in the U.S. state of California have launched an investigation after at least 16 asylum seekers were flown to Sacramento Friday in a private jet believed to have been arranged by the state of Florida.  The migrants, who are from Venezuela and Colombia, say they were promised work if they boarded the flight, but were instead dropped off in front of a church with only a backpack’s worth of belongings.   

The group had entered the U.S. through the Texas border and were transported by bus to New Mexico, where they were put on the chartered jet to California. 

Officials say the migrants had paperwork appearing to link the flight to Florida.  California’s attorney general called the move a “state-sanctioned kidnapping.”

Last year, officials working for Republican Governor Ron DeSantis helped coordinate similar flights, coercing dozens of asylum seekers to go to Martha’s Vineyard under the false promise they’d be given jobs and housing.