Judge rules DeSantis administration must hand over records of illegal immigrant flights to Texas

A Florida judge this week ruled that the administration of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis must hand over records related to airline flights for illegal immigrants that the administration charted last month. 

DeSantis in September arranged for dozens of illegal migrants to be flown to Martha's Vineyard as part of a stunt to demonstrate the immigration crisis underway at the southern U.S. border. DeSantis's office at the time said the Florida government had given the migrants "an opportunity to seek greener pastures in a sanctuary jurisdiction that offered greater resources for them." 

The Florida Center for Government Accountability, a Sarasota-based watchdog group, subsequently made an open records request for public documentation related to the undertaking. The group said this week that a Florida judge had ordered the DeSantis administration to comply with the request. 

"Judge Lee Marsh rules that [DeSantis] failed to comply [with Florida's] public records law in a request for records related to text messages, communications & other docs re Martha’s Vineyard immigrant flights," the group said on Twitter. 

The group added that the governor's office "must provide [the] records within 20 days."

DeSantis's office had originally been seeking to delay the record request until December.