EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The Florida Division of Emergency Management on Tuesday confirmed its involvement in the flying of migrants from Texas to Sacramento.

“Through verbal and written consent, these volunteers (migrants) indicated they wanted to go to California. A contractor was present and ensured they made it safely to a 3rd-party NGO. The specific NGO, Catholic Charities, is used and funded by the federal government,” read a statement from Florida’s Division of Emergency Management.

In a video shared by the Florida Division of Emergency Management it shows the migrants signing paperwork and getting on the planes smiling. At one point in the video someone asks the group if they were treated poorly and they say no.

According to FlightAware, the planes actually left from the Deming airport on their way to Sacramento, California.

The Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services in El Paso says the migrants were approached at Sacred Heart Church in El Paso and offered jobs and transportation to California.

“A lot of people agreed to follow the individuals (making the offer). They said they were placed in like these vans that were rented, that they were like private vehicles, and then they were taken to like a Super Eight Motel. They couldn’t say where. They just said it was far. But reports are saying it was like Deming, New Mexico,” said Imelda Maynard, the director of legal services at DMRS.

Maynard says a family she spoke to decided not to get on the plane.

“Ultimately, (they) decided not to get on the flight because they were being told that they would have to separate from their family because there were too many people. And so two flights would have to go out. And so this person said at that point, ‘I thought it was really strange that like me and my family couldn’t go together,'” Maynard said, relating the family’s story.

El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser sent out a statement that the city was not aware of these flights.

“The City of El Paso does not fly asylum-seekers out to any location.  We are unaware of the circumstances surrounding reports of others doing so. There was no consultation with the city, nor was any information shared with us,” stated the mayor’s statement.

Leeser called on those responsible for the flights to stop.

“We would never use individuals in a political stunt, or transport anyone where they didn’t want to go.  If the reports are correct, we would encourage those that engaged in this practice in our city to cease doing so, and to treat each person as every human being deserves, with dignity and respect,” the statement read.

The attorney general for New Mexico also sent out a statement regarding the flights transporting migrants from Deming to California.

“We are working with our colleagues at the California Department of Justice to determine if there’s been a violation of state law,” Attorney General Raul Torrez said. “But regardless of that determination, I think it’s beneath the dignity of a great nation to use desperate people as pawns in this pathetic political stunt. America is better than that and anyone who had a hand in this should be ashamed of themselves.”