'You have my full support': Top DeSantis aides played key roles in migrant flights

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Thomas Kennedy
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Public records reveal DeSantis had his chief of staff James Uthmier and top aide Larry Keefe oversee the Martha’s Vineyard stunt. Keefe was apparently on the ground. It was done with a politically connected contractor that donated exclusively to the GOP.
A woman, who is part of a group of immigrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard by Florida Gov. DeSantis, holds a child as they are fed outside St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Edgartown, Massachusetts.

miamiherald.com
‘You have my full support’: Top DeSantis aides played key roles in migrant flights
Top aides to Gov. Ron DeSantis played key roles in planning and executing Florida’s controversial migrant flight program, according to public records released late Friday.
10:31 AM · Oct 15, 2022

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https://archive.ph/BtJq8

Top aides to Gov. Ron DeSantis played key roles in planning and executing Florida’s controversial migrant flight program, according to public records released late Friday.

While the program was carried out by a private contractor, the new records show the deep involvement of Larry Keefe, DeSantis’ public safety czar, and James Uthmeier, his chief of staff, in an operation that has led to at least one criminal investigation, a separate U.S. Treasury Department probe and several lawsuits — potentially heightening their exposure to the various inquiries underway.

“Current plan is for event to occur next Wednesday ... Will be more precise about ETA there as event approaches,” Keefe wrote to Uthmeier in a Sept. 8 text message. “No news from me between now and then is good news. Will let you know if otherwise.”

The two men were discussing charter flights paid for with Florida taxpayer money that would bring a group of roughly 50 migrants, mainly Venezuelans, from San Antonio, Texas, to the Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard on Sept. 14.

The records suggest Keefe traveled to Texas to oversee the program, denounced by the governor’s detractors as a political stunt to boost DeSantis’ stature in advance of an anticipated run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. Operatives working for the state recruited migrants in San Antonio, offering them free flights to Martha’s Vineyard and saying jobs and aid would be waiting for them.

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