The Florida Center for Government Accountability filed the lawsuit in Leon County circuit court and alleged that the governorโs office did not comply with requests to release a series of records about the flights.
Among other things, the group sought records, phone logs or text logs that could show communications by DeSantis Chief of Staff James Uthmeier about the flights, according to the lawsuit. Also, it sought any records that would show communications with Texas Gov. Greg Abbottโs office about relocating migrants.
The lawsuit said the DeSantis administration provided records Friday but that they were not โresponsiveโ to requests made Sept. 20 and Sept. 21 under Floridaโs public-records law.
โNone of the records produced by defendants are records sent or received by the EOG (Executive Office of the Governor) or governor,โ the lawsuit, filed by Sarasota attorney Andrea Flynn Mogensen and Tampa attorney Matthew Farmer, said. โNone of the records are within the timeframe of records sought in the first or second requests.โ
In an email attached to the lawsuit, the governorโs office described the documents released Friday as the โfirst productionโ of records.
โThe Office of Open Government (in the governorโs office) has been working to retrieve, review and produce documents responsive to the many public records requests we have received regarding the flights to Marthaโs Vineyard,โ the email from the office said. โIn an effort to produce documents more efficiently, this office is retrieving, reviewing and producing any documents related to the aforementioned flights.โ
The two flights of migrants drew national attention and came as DeSantis regularly criticizes the Biden administration on border policy and the handling of undocumented immigrants. DeSantis and other Republicans also have heavily criticized โsanctuaryโ communities, such as Marthaโs Vineyard.
The flights of about 50 people, mostly Venezuelans, started in San Antonio, Texas, stopped at an airport in the Northwest Florida community of Crestview and then headed north to Marthaโs Vineyard. The DeSantis administration tapped into $12 million that the Legislature provided to transport undocumented immigrants from Florida โ though part of the controversy has centered on the migrant flights originating in Texas.
This article appears in Oct 6-12, 2022.

