TALLAHASSEE – On Tuesday, a Florida judge found that Governor Ron DeSantis' office did not follow the state’s public records law, ordering his administration to turn over records connected to the migrant flights from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard within the next 20 days. The suit was filed by the Florida Center for Government Accountability, whose director of public access is local public records activist Michael Barfield.

Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh rebuked arguments from the DeSantis administration's lawyers that they should be allowed to wait until Dec. 1 to hand over records, including phone and text logs belonging to James Uthmeier, the governor’s chief of staff who was involved in the scheme to fly 48 Venezuelan migrants to the resort island, which is considered an icon of the liberal establishment. Critics called it an expensive stunt that wasted taxpayer money.

"The ruling demonstrates the vitality of the Public Records Act," Barfield told TBT on Thursday. "The governor is not a king and has been held accountable under the law. For far too long, the governor ignored his constitutional duty to make public records available for inspection. No longer will we sit back and watch fundamental rights being eroded as democracy is unraveling."

DeSantis spent $615,000 sending 48 of Texas’ refugees to Massachusetts ($12,300 per one-way flight, per refugee). The funding came from $12 million that was set aside in the state's general fund to "facilitate the transport of unauthorized aliens from this state consistent with federal law." As the refugees in question were not "from this state," DeSantis may have violated state statutes in using the funding, which was said to come from interest on billions of dollars in COVID-19 aid the state received from the federal government.

Refugees filed a class action lawsuitagainst Governor DeSantis and other state officials. They said they were told they would be taken to Boston and Washington, D.C. and that some were misled by pamphlets promising them assistance with employment and housing that was never delivered. The migrants allege Florida officials are responsible for creating an "official-looking brochure" that included language from the Massachusetts Refugee Resettlement Program.

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