TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A public records watchdog on Wednesday asked a Tallahassee judge to charge the DeSantis administration with contempt of court for continuing to withhold public records about its handling of the relocation of migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in September.
The Florida Center for Government Accountability asked Judge J. Lee Marsh of the 2nd Judicial District to hold the governor’s office in contempt for violating Florida’s Public Records Act after the judge ordered the state on Oct. 25 to turn over by Nov. 14 text messages, call logs and other communications for his chief of staff James Uthmeier about the migrant flights.
The motion is the latest in a growing array of legal challenges facing the DeSantis administration over its use of $1.56 million in Florida taxpayer funds earmarked for relocating “unauthorized aliens” from Florida but which was instead was used to relocate 49 migrants from Texas.
