
A former chief of staff for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), has filed a lawsuit alleging that Governor Ron DeSantis and his deputies pressured him to perform unlawful activities, including gathering information on migrants and arresting neo-Nazi demonstrators without reasonable suspicion, The Miami Herald reported.
The former officer detailed that one such case took place in September 2023, when he was ordered by DeSantis' chief of staff, Alex Kelly, to arrest neo-Nazi demonstrators in Orlando under a law prohibiting unauthorized projection of images on property. Despite his objections over First Amendment protections, Kelly insisted on finding a way to make arrests, emphasizing the governor's demand for immediate action, he said.