A Florida judge on Tuesday ordered Governor Ron DeSantis to submit documents related to the migrant flights his administration authorized to Martha’s Vineyard in September.
The judge also ruled that DeSantis violated the Public Records Act by delaying the production of public records related to the relocation of migrants from San Antonio, Texas to the affluent Massachusetts enclave. His office agreed to turn over necessary records by December 1, claiming that staff were overwhelmed with such requests, after an open government group sued to try to compel transparency from the governor on how the flights were conducted and financed, Politico reported.
However, Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh moved up the deadline to within the next 20 days, dismissing DeSantis’s arguments that they should have at least another month to compile the information. Marsh claimed he was being generous with the time afforded to DeSantis’s team to hand over the records, noting that he could have given only 48 hours.
Among the records requested were the phone and text logs of James Uthmeier, the governor’s chief of staff who helped coordinate the transportation of the 48 illegal immigrants.
Besides the Florida Center for Government Accountability, other nonprofits and activists have filed records requests to demand that DeSantis’s office disclose documents connected to the migrant flights in an attempt to identify whether there was unethical or illegal action.
Andrew King, assistant general counsel for DeSantis, on Tuesday argued in court that the plaintiff in the case was “weaponizing the public records law so they can jump everyone else,” Politico reported. In response to Marsh’s ruling, Nick Meros, deputy general counsel for DeSantis, pointed out that the judge’s order will create a “precedent” by forcing the administration to “play favorites” and prioritize certain public record requests over others.
The judge said he was obliged by law to force the administration to turn over the records and that the governor’s office did not show “any steps, direct steps taken to gather what this court finds are public records.”
DeSantis deployed the flights as part of a migrant relocation program, which was reportedly approved in a bipartisan budget by the state legislature months ago. They were also used to prove a point that the progressive “sanctuary cities” across the country do not experience the direct consequences of the lenient border enforcement policies they encourage. Democrats were quick to characterize the trips as inhumane stunts that made political pawns out of vulnerable migrants.
The state’s expenditures for the flights have come under scrutiny, with the Treasury Department agreeing to audit them to assess whether they were appropriate after it received intense pressure from Democratic lawmakers.