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.
“I’m back out here,” Keefe wrote in a Sept. 5 text message. “Conditions are quite favorable.”
“Very good,” Uthmeier replied. “You have my full support. Call anytime.”
According to a text message obtained by the nonpartisan watchdog organization American Oversight, Keefe also appears to have been in contact with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s office. Sometime between Sept. 1 and Sept. 19, Uthmeier sent a text to Abbott’s chief of staff, Luis Saenz, introducing him to Keefe.
“Luis, I’ve asked a guy on my team, Larry Keefe, to be POC [point of contact] here, and he can loop in others as needed,’’ Uthmeier wrote. “He serves as one of the boss’s senior advisors for public safety. He’s a former US Atty under Trump, trustworthy and effective.”
Neither DeSantis’ nor Abbott’s offices responded to requests for comment Saturday.
The records were released at 9:23 p.m. Friday, in response to requests from the Florida Center for Government Accountability, a watchdog group that has sued the governor’s office over delays in producing records.
Michael Barfield, director of public access for the FLCGA, said the existing records indicate there are clearly other documents that have not yet been turned over.
“It took 25 days to produce 12 pages of texts, some photos and the forms they had the immigrants sign,’’ Barfield said. “It took more time to produce the records than it did for DeSantis aides to plan this political stunt.”
Through lawyers who have come to their aid, the migrants have blasted the relocation program, alleging in media interviews and a federal civil rights lawsuit that they were tricked into getting on the planes and thought they were going to Boston. No one in Martha’s Vineyard was expecting them, although community members regrouped to provide food, clothes and other support.
But at least one migrant expressed gratitude in screenshotted text messages that Keefe sent to Uthmeier.
“You threw us into a cradle of gold,” the person wrote in Spanish to someone they referred to as “Perla” — likely Perla Huerta, a former U.S. Army counterintelligence agent whom migrants have identified as the top recruiter for the program in San Antonio. The migrant, whose name is not visible in the records, noted the group was provided food and clothes.
“I’m glad they have taken such good care of you, I knew it would be like that,” Huerta wrote back.
She acknowledged that some of the migrants might hate her, but she wrote, “this opportunity nobody else would have given.”
As public safety czar, Keefe’s portfolio includes immigration. Before joining the administration, he worked as an outside lawyer for Vertol Systems Company, the Destin, Florida-based company hired by the Florida Department of Transportation to arrange the flights. Keefe led Vertol’s litigation strategy and was later appointed by then-President Donald Trump to serve as the U.S. attorney for Florida’s Northern District.
Informed of the latest revelations, Rachel Self, a Boston immigration attorney representing the migrants, likened DeSantis to a “schoolyard bully,” adding: “[T]he governor of Florida proudly took credit for this callous act and certain cable news personalities joined him in pointing and laughing at the prank. Apparently, unlawful restraint of vulnerable people, including children as young as only two years old, was the hysterical equivalent joke on the playground. But sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.”
The Democratic sheriff of Bexar County, which includes San Antonio, is running the criminal investigation into whether Vertol recruiters broke laws against “unlawful restraint” by allegedly deceiving the migrants and then moving them around the country.
Sheriff Javier Salazar referred the Herald to a previous statement, in which he said his Organized Crime Division had identified suspects, cited the unlawful restraint statute as applicable and said only those who had been in his jurisdiction could be charged.
Keefe’s apparent presence on the ground in Texas could open him up to potential criminal liability.
Vertol has so far received more than $1.56 million in Florida taxpayer funds, and the relocation program may be continuing, with flights potentially planned for other Democratic states, including Delaware and Illinois, additional records released late Friday indicated. The text messages between Keefe and Uthmeier suggest that the two men had several conference calls with Vertol employees.
While the migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard were previously believed to all be from Venezuela, new records show that two of them listed their country of origin as Peru.
McClatchy D.C. staff writer Michael Wilner contributed to this report.
This story was originally published October 15, 2022 7:09 AM.
Nicholas Nehamas
Miami Herald
