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The U.S. Treasury Department will probe whether Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis improperly used COVID-19 relief funding to pay for migrant flights, ABC News confirmed Wednesday.
In a letter obtained by ABC News, the agency’s inspector general’s office said it has audit work « planned, » based on DeSantis’ recent transport of undocumented immigrants to to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, among other places.
The letter was sent in response to members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation’s Sept. 16 request that Treasury look into DeSantis’ compliance with parameters placed on funding use from the Coronavirus Relief Fund established by the CARES Act and the Local Fiscal Recovery Fund, created under the American Rescue Plan Act.
« We have already sought information from Florida about appropriate use of that fund, » Richard K. Delmar, deputy inspector general for the Treasury Department said in the letter, sent to Sen. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., and five Massachusetts Democratic House members.
« We plan to get this work underway as quickly as possible, consistent with meeting our other oversight mandates and priorities, both in pandemic recovery programs as well as the other Treasury programs and operations for which we have responsibility. »
Florida state legislators earlier this year laid out in the state budget that $12 million in interest earned off COVID aid be used to pay for the transport of « unauthorized aliens from this state, » not that the state directly used the federal COVID funds. The DeSantis administration maintains that the $12 million put forth for migrant transportation was passed in June as part of the state’s budget.
« As you may know, in this past legislative session the Florida Legislature appropriated $12 million to implement a program to facilitate the transport of illegal immigrants from this state consistent with federal law.
