The Treasury Department is auditing the migrant flights authorized by Governor Ron DeSantis to assess whether the expenditures were appropriate.
In response to a petition from Democratic lawmakers, the department’s inspector general wrote in an October 7 letter that the agency would investigate whether Florida misused federal funds to relocate illegal immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard. The DeSantis administration has maintained that the trips were approved on a bipartisan basis by the state legislature in a budget package many months ago.
Richard K. Delmar, deputy inspector general for the department, told Senator Ed Markey and five other Democrats that he intended “to get this work underway as soon as possible” to see whether Republican-controlled states, such as Florida, exploited money they received under American Rescue Plan to ship out migrants.
“As part of its oversight responsibilities for the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, The Treasury Office of the Inspector General has audit work planned on recipients’ compliance with eligible use guidance,” Delmar said. “In addition, as part of our oversight work of the Coronavirus Relief Fund established by the CARES Act, we have already sought information from Florida about appropriate use of that fund.”
Democrats and progressive media outlets have alleged that the migrant flights to the affluent Massachusetts island were an inhumane “stunt” that made political pawns out of vulnerable asylum-seekers. Markey tweeted Tuesday that the department would be probing DeSantis’ use of Covid relief funds “to cruelly transport immigrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard under false pretenses and without any consideration for their personal dignity or basic needs.” DeSantis spokespeople have said that the migrants were informed of the conditions of the trips and voluntarily agreed to go.
“We will review the allowability of use of [State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund] funds related to immigration generally, and will specifically confirm whether interest earned on SLFRF funds was utilized by Florida related to immigration activities, and if so, what conditions and limitations apply to such use,” the inspector general said.