Martha's Vineyard migrant flight funding under investigation by U.S. Treasury Department

Jeannette Hinkle

Cape Cod Times

 Published Oct 12, 2022

This story was updated at 5:09 p.m. Oct. 12 to include comments from US Rep. William Keating.

The U.S. Treasury Department is auditing and investigating “as quickly as possible” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s potential misuse of pandemic taxpayer relief funds to fly 50 mostly-Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard last month, according to a spokesperson for U.S. Sen. Edward Markey’s office.

The U.S. Treasury’s Office of the Inspector General “has already sought information from Florida about appropriate use” of COVID-related funding as part of an audit the office is currently engaged in, according to a letter from the Treasury Department to Markey and other lawmakers.

Markey was the lead writer of a Sept, 16 letter to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Inspector General urging the office to review Florida’s “apparent misuse of federal pandemic relief funds from the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF), created under the American Rescue Plan Act, to relocate vulnerable immigrants from Florida to other states across the country.”

US Rep. William Keating, who represents Cape Cod and the Islands in Congress, signed the letter. In a phone interview on Wednesday afternoon, he said he felt the misuse of funds was clear, saying the money was meant for businesses impacted by the pandemic, vital public services such as police and fire, and long-term investments to aid the rebuilding process.

“It’s important they be used for the purpose intended, important purposes in the midst of an unprecedented crisis,” said Keating. “Not someone’s own personal slush fund to be utilized for his own political purposes.”

More:Venezuelan migrants leaving Joint Base Cape. Here's where they are going.

Did flights misuse federal COVID relief funds?

“According to reports, Florida has used federal funds intended to help communities recover from the coronavirus pandemic for an inhumane program to transport newly arrived immigrants out of Florida,” the letter stated. “If true, we believe this program misuses federal COVID-19 relief funds and violates federal law. Accordingly, we request that you investigate Florida and take all necessary action — including potentially rescinding any misused funds — to stop this abuse of coronavirus relief programs.”

In addition to Keating, the letter was also signed by US Reps. Lori Trahan, Jake Auchincloss, James McGovern, Seth Moulton and Ayanna Pressley.

More:Lawyers for Civil Rights explain lawsuit filed on behalf of Martha's Vineyard migrants

In an Oct. 7 letter to Markey and five other House members, Deputy Inspector General for the Treasury Department Richard K. Delmar told the lawmakers that the agency would “review the allowability” of COVID-19 aid to states “related to immigration generally, and will specifically confirm whether interest earned on (the) funds was utilized by Florida related to immigration activities, and if so, what conditions and limitations apply to such use.”

Delmar went on to write that his office plans to “get this work underway as quickly as possible, consistent with other oversight mandates and priorities, both in pandemic recovery programs as well as other Treasury programs and operations for which we have responsibility.

“We are also monitoring legislative and judicial challenges to the use of the funds for this purpose; such developments may affect the scope and timing of our review,” Delmar wrote.

Markey applauded the “swift response from the Treasury’s Office of the Inspector General” in an Oct. 12 press statement.

More:'He thought there were migrants on the bus': Guard officer pursues, confronts senior citizens

“For the sake of the migrants who were lured onto charter planes under false pretenses, and for the commendable Commonwealth residents who rallied together to offer support, I hope that this investigation sheds light on whether Governor DeSantis misused funds that were intended for COVID relief for Floridians,” Markey was quoted as saying.

The probe is important, said Keating, because there’s still “money out there that hasn’t been used." Florida's legislature approved $12 million to fund shipping migrants out of Florida.

“It’s clear that before these things are used, it’s important to make sure that as violations of that occur, they’re public and people adhere to the requirements of those funds,” said Keating. “Timing is important, in that respect, because there’s still money throughout the country to be utilized.”

What happened when flights of migrants reached Martha's Vineyard

In mid-September, roughly 50 migrants were dropped off on Martha’s Vineyard via private planes chartered by DeSantis, who took credit for relocating the migrants to an island known as a vacation spot for powerful Democrats, including Barack Obama.

While right-wing politicians including Sen. Ted Cruz applauded the move as a savvy effort to highlight Democrat hypocrisy on immigration issues, Democrats and immigrant rights organizations called it a cruel stunt, and accused DeSantis of using vulnerable human beings as political pawns to raise his national profile among Republicans.

More:Can the migrants dropped off on Martha's Vineyard help solve the labor shortage?

Last month, the groups Lawyers for Civil Rights and Alianza Americas filed a lawsuit on behalf of the migrants alleging they were tricked with promises of work into boarding the planes to an island unprepared for their arrival.

“On information and belief, the Defendants procured and paid $615,000 for private chartered planes ($12,300 per passenger), transported class members to the aircrafts, and told them they were flying to Boston or Washington, D.C., which was completely false,” the lawsuit reads. “Instead, the chartered airplanes dropped Plaintiffs off on Martha’s Vineyard in the evening, with no food, water or shelter. No one on Martha’s Vineyard — or, on information and belief — anywhere in Massachusetts — knew they were coming.”

"On the civil side, there's a class-action process being implemented that could make the governor personally responsible," said Keating. "Not just be fined with any public fines or limitations, but the result of that would have to come out of his own pocket."

A call to a spokesperson for Markey was not returned.