Gov. Abbott’s Office Claimed Texas Was ‘Not Involved’ in DeSantis’ Migrant Flights. Newly-Released Text Messages Show That’s Not Accurate.
Lynda M. Gonzalez – Pool, Getty Images
After the news broke about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) arranging for two charter flights that transported Venezuelan migrants from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard, one obvious question was whether Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) had any involvement. Abbott’s office had previously claimed they were “not involved,” but recently-released text messages debunk those claims.
Abbott got his name in the headlines — and in the Fox News airtime so critical for building support among a national base of conservative voters — for his own previous efforts busing migrants to New York City, Delaware, and Washington, D.C. The flights DeSantis arranged were understandably viewed as inspired by what Abbott had been doing, with both governors’ actions being denounced as cruel political stunts by their critics and defended as drawing attention to immigration issues by their supporters.
As reported by NBC News’ Marc Caputo last month, Abbott spokeswoman Renae Eze issued a statement that the Texas governor’s office “has had conversations with Governor DeSantis and his team about supporting our busing strategy to provide much-needed relief to our overwhelmed and overrun border communities,” but insisted “we were not involved in these initial planes to Martha’s Vineyard.”
That Abbott spokeswoman might have been well-advised to have researched Florida’s Sunshine Law — the state’s broad grants of public access to government records that is credited with the hilarious abundance of “Florida Man” headlines gracing your social media feeds — before making such a statement.
Because, dear reader, there are receipts.
The Florida Center for Government Accountability, an open government group critical of DeSantis that filed a lawsuit against his administration last week alleging foot-dragging in producing public records related to these migrant flights, did manage to get some records produced that showed direct communications between James Uthmeier, DeSantis’ chief of staff to Luis Saenz, Abbott’s chief of staff, according to a report by KSAT.
In the text message screenshot below, Uthmeier sent Saenz the contact information for Larry Keefe, DeSantis’ public safety czar who was a key player in handling the arrangements for the migrant flights out of Texas. Uthmeier describes Keefe as “one of the boss’s [DeSantis] senior advisors for public safety,” a former US attorney in the Trump administration, and “trustworthy and effective.”
Other text messages produced show communications between Keefe and Uthmeier, as KSAT reported:
On Monday, Sept. 5, Keefe texted in part, “I’m back out here,” referring to San Antonio. Uthmeier replied, “Very good. You have my full support. Call anytime.”
Later that evening, Uthmeier followed up with, “Texas is aware of Dash, FYI. No worries here.”
“Dash” was the codename used internally among DeSantis staffers for the migrant flights.
The Florida Center for Government Accountability is continuing their efforts to get access to additional public records related to the migrant flights. On Wednesday, Politico reported that the DeSantis administration had responded to the lawsuit, promising to release these records — but not until Dec. 1, nearly a month after the upcoming midterm elections.
