Florida AG urges DOJ to ignore requests to probe DeSantis migrant flights

by Nick Robertson - 07/13/23 9:52 PM ET

Ron Schloerb/Cape Cod Times via AP
Carlos Munoz reaches out to hug Larkin Stallings of Vineyard Haven, Mass., as the immigrants prepare to leave St. Andrews in Edgartown, Mass., Friday, Sept. 16, 2022. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took the playbook of a fellow Republican, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, to a new level by catching officials flat-footed in Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., with two planeloads of Venezuelan migrants. On Friday, the migrants were being moved voluntarily to a military base on nearby Cape Cod, Mass.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) scoffed at claims from California Democrats that Florida’s migrant relocation to California is illegal and should be investigated.

Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) administration last year began a program of busing and flying groups of migrants from Florida to “sanctuary cities” around the country, including to Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., Vice President Harris’s home in Washington, DC and other major cities like Sacramento.

That practice has drawn scorn from Democrats, who have called it a dangerous political stunt, and calls for federal investigation from California politicians.

In a letter to the Justice Department Thursday, Moody criticized Attorney General Merrick Garland of being politically biased and defended the state’s migrant relocation program, asking Garland to publicly state that there is no need to investigate Florida over the program.

“Florida’s voluntary relocation program is precisely that — voluntary,” Moody wrote.

“The relocation of those illegally crossing the United States border is not new or novel. Indeed, the federal government itself facilitates such transport daily,” she argued in her letter. “But suddenly, when the State of Florida provides transportation for illegal immigrants to a sanctuary city, it’s illegal and needs to be investigated.”

Moody pointed out that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) have also started similar programs which have sent migrants to California and elsewhere. She also claimed that state investigations in California and Massachusetts make a federal one redundant.

“While I would urge you not to bail out California or engage in another political investigation or litigation, if you make the unconscionable and unfounded determination to do so, Florida stands ready to fight against DOJ’s overreach,” Moody wrote.

In an interview Monday, DeSantis said that Newsom’s request for a federal investigation is “absurd.” Mexico has also threatened repercussions for what it views as poor treatment of its citizens who are migrants in Florida.