A high-profile stunt flying migrants from Texas to Massachusetts may have broken Florida law. But legislation under consideration in a Special Session this week could change statute before any violation is addressed.
A bill on the "Transportation of Inspected Unauthorized Aliens" (HB 5) would change the budget authority used when Gov. Ron DeSantis flew dozens of Venezuelan refugees to Martha's Vineyard.
The Florida Legislature last year approved an immigration crackdown law granting the Governor greater ability to respond to migrants illegally entering the U.S. arriving in Florida. That included the budget authority to transport migrants to other states, which was used to justify flying tow planes of immigrants to Martha's Vineyard in September.
The problem is the bill only allowed for a program facilitating "the transport of unauthorized aliens from this state," but the flights DeSantis commissioned flew to Texas to round up migrants there and then transport them to New England.
Rep. John Snyder, a Stuart Republican, carried the bill passed by the Legislature last year.
He's now sponsoring the bill under consideration in Special Session to change the law, which was filed on Friday. Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, a Spring Hill Republican, filed a companion bill in the Senate.
The words "this state" no longer will appear in the relevant statute under the newly filed legislation. It will instead allow for "transport of inspected unauthorized aliens within the United States."
Snyder last year notably said arguments the program might target refugees legally seeking asylum was disingenuous. But critics have argued the use of the term "unauthorized aliens" kept the program intentionally vague regarding whether it could target migrants legally within the United States.
The drafting of the bill reflects a poor understanding of immigration which causes broad, harmful consequences, and possibly even achieves results not intended by the drafters," said Mark Prada, an immigration lawyer and executive in the American Immigration Lawyers Association, when the law was initially passed.
Notably, the legislation also retroactively deems costs associated with the prior law as "approved." For the 2022-'23 fiscal year, the new legislation sets aside $10 million in non-recurring funding from general revenue and send it to the Division of Emergency Management to fund the program.
Notably, the DeSantis administration paid upward of $1.5 million for the flights last year to Vertol, after lengthy communication between the company and DeSantis public safety czar Larry Keefe using an alias, according to reporting by The Miami Herald.
That was revealed in communications made public after a judge ordered records be turned over to the Florida Center for Government Accountability.
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