美国广播公司周三证实，财政部监察机构将调查佛罗里达州共和党州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯是否不当使用新冠肺炎救济基金支付移民航班。
在ABC新闻获得的一封信中，该机构的监察长办公室表示，根据德桑蒂斯最近向马萨诸塞州玛莎葡萄园岛等地运送无证移民的情况，他们已经“计划”开展审计工作。
这封信是为了回应马萨诸塞州国会代表团成员9月16日的请求，即财政部调查德桑蒂斯对冠状病毒救助基金资金使用参数的遵守情况，该基金由《关怀法案》和根据《美国救援计划法案》创建的地方财政恢复基金设立。政治首先报道了信。
财政部副监察长理查德·k·德尔玛(Richard K. Delmar)在给马萨诸塞州参议员爱德华·j·马基(Edward J. Markey)的信中说，“我们已经从佛罗里达州寻求有关适当使用这笔资金的信息。和五名马萨诸塞州民主党众议员。
“我们计划尽快开展这项工作，以符合我们的其他监督任务和优先事项，包括疫情复苏计划以及我们负责的其他财政部计划和业务。”
DeSantis通讯主任Taryn Fenske表示，佛罗里达州政策和预算办公室“几周前”就使用冠状病毒州和地方财政复苏基金的利息与财政部监察长办公室进行了交谈。Fenske说，预算办公室向财政部明确表示，“根据SLFRF最终规则，我们使用佛罗里达州立法机关划拨的利息是允许的”。
“财政部的审查是典型的，正如OIG所说，是‘其监督责任的一部分’，”她补充道。
财政部监察长办公室没有回应ABC新闻的多次置评请求。
佛罗里达州立法者今年早些时候在州预算中规定，从COVID援助中获得的1200万美元利息将用于支付“来自该州的未经授权的外国人”的交通费用，而不是该州直接使用联邦COVID资金。德桑蒂斯政府坚持认为，为移民运输提出的1200万美元是作为州预算的一部分于6月通过的。
“你可能知道，在过去的立法会议上，佛罗里达州立法机关拨款1200万美元实施一项计划，根据联邦法律便利该州非法移民的运输。佛罗里达的移居搬迁计划既针对在佛罗里达州发现的人口走私者，又阻止其他人进入，”芬斯克在9月份告诉美国广播公司新闻。
根据这封发给国会议员的信，财政部将“具体确认资金所得利息是否被佛罗里达州用于移民活动，如果是，这种使用有哪些条件和限制”。
佛罗里达州运输部在该州周五晚间发布的公共记录中披露，包机公司Vertol Systems是佛罗里达州聘请的供应商，负责与航空公司签订合同，运送这批委内瑞拉人。记录显示，9月8日，在飞往玛莎葡萄园岛的航班不到一周前，该州向该公司支付了61.5万美元，9月19日，在另一架载有移民前往总统乔·拜登(Joe Biden)家乡特拉华州的航班被取消的前一天，该州又支付了95万美元。
9月14日，德桑蒂斯政府包租了两架飞机，载着约50名移民前往玛莎葡萄园岛，这是马萨诸塞州海岸外的一个岛屿飞地，以奥巴马夫妇等季节性游客闻名。
他们或他们的律师后来说，一些来自委内瑞拉的移民，包括父母和孩子，说他们认为他们被带到了为他们提供工作和其他资源的社区。但当地官员表示，他们不知道他们的到来，并争先恐后地为他们提供住宿。
民主党人将来自共和党的移民运输视为不人道的政治噱头。
代表一些移民的律师在9月下旬提起了集体诉讼，声称“在推进非法计划时做出了重大失实陈述。”一名佛罗里达州议员在9月22日提交了自己的投诉，称用于飞行的州政府资金被非法使用。
Senator Ed Markey speaks at a hearing in Washington, D.C., April 27, 2022.
塞缪尔·科勒姆/彭博通过盖蒂图片，文件
德克萨斯州圣安东尼奥的警长也展开了调查，他告诉ABC新闻:“我们必须确定到底发生了什么——说了什么，做了什么，这些人在我的县受到了怎样的待遇?如果我们能够证明犯罪意图，那么我们可能会指控某人犯罪。”
马基回答周三，他在给财政部的信中指出，他希望，代表移民和在他们抵达时主动帮助他们的马萨诸塞州居民，调查“揭示”共和党州长是否滥用资金。
马基说:“我对财政部监察长办公室的迅速反应表示赞赏。”。“为了那些被骗上包机的移民，为了那些团结起来提供支持的值得称赞的英联邦居民，我希望这次调查能够揭示德桑蒂斯州长是否滥用了旨在为佛罗里达人提供COVID救济的资金。”
民权律师组织(LCR)的诉讼主管柳文欢·塞尔斯特罗姆告诉美国广播公司新闻，他的团队欢迎财政部调查的消息，他相信在调查结束时，他们会发现德桑蒂斯滥用了那些用于COVID救济的资金，侵犯了弱势移民的权利。
他的团队代表许多飞往玛莎葡萄园岛的移民，他们是针对佛罗里达州官员的集体诉讼的一部分。诉讼中的一项指控是德桑蒂斯滥用了这些资金。
“我相信他们会发现联邦资金被滥用了，那些本应用于地方政府应对突发公共卫生事件的资金，反而被用来侵犯非常脆弱的人群的宪法权利。这是对联邦资金的滥用，我们完全相信调查将会确定这一点，”他说。
Treasury watchdog to probe DeSantis' use of COVID relief money to fund migrant flights
A Treasury Department watchdog 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. Politico first reported on theletter.
"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."
DeSantis Communications Director Taryn Fenske said that the Florida Office of Policy and Budget spoke with the Treasury inspector general's office "weeks ago" about using interest on the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds. The budget office articulated to Treasury that "our use of this interest, as appropriated by the Florida Legislature, is permissible under the SLFRF Final Rule," Fenske said.
"Reviews by Treasury are typical and, as stated by the OIG, are 'part of its oversight responsibilities,'" she added.
Treasury's Office of the Inspector General did not respond to multiple requests for comment from ABC News.
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. Florida'simmigrationrelocation program both targets human smugglers found in Florida and preempts others from entering," Fenske told ABC News in September.
Treasury will "specifically confirm whether interest earned on (the) funds was utilized by Florida related to immigration activities, and if so, what conditions and limitations apply to such use," according to the letter sent to members of Congress.
The Florida Department of Transportation disclosed in public records released by the state late Friday laid out that Vertol Systems, a charter airline company, was the vendor Florida hired to contract with airlines to fly the group of Venezuelans. Records show that the state paid the company $615,000 on Sept. 8, less than a week before the flights to Martha's Vineyard, and another $950,000 on Sept. 19, a day before another reported flight carrying migrants to President Joe Biden's home state of Delaware, was canceled.
On Sept. 14, DeSantis's administration chartered two planes carrying about 50 migrants to Martha's Vineyard, an island enclave off the coast of Massachusetts that is famed for its seasonal visitors like the Obamas.
Some of the migrants from Venezuela, including parents and children, said they thought they were being taken to communities with jobs for them and other resources, they or their attorneys later said. But local officials said they did not know about their arrival and scrambled to accommodate them.
Democrats have cast the migrant transports from Republican DeSantis as an inhumane political stunt.
Attorneys representing some of the migrants filed a class-action lawsuit in late September, claiming "material misrepresentations [were] made in furtherance of the unlawful scheme." And a Florida lawmaker filed his own complaint on Sept. 22, arguing the state monies for the flights were illegally used.
The sheriff in San Antonio, Texas, has also opened an investigation, telling ABC News: "We have to determine what exactly happened -- what was said, what was done, how were these people treated while they were here in my county? And if we can prove criminal intent, then we may be charging somebody with a crime."
Markeyrespondedon Wednesday to Treasury's letter, noting that he hopes, on behalf of the migrants and Massachusetts residents who offered to help them upon their arrival, that the investigation "sheds light" on whether the Republican governor misused funds.
"I applaud the swift response from the Treasury's Office of the Inspector General," said Markey. "For the sake of the migrants who were lured onto charter planes under false pretenses, and for the commendable Commonwealth residents who rallied together to offer support, I hope that this investigation sheds light on whether Governor DeSantis misused funds that were intended for COVID relief for Floridians."
Oren Sellstrom, the litigation director for Lawyers for Civil Rights Boston (LCR) told ABC News that his team welcomes news of the Treasury Department's investigation and that he believes that at the end of their inquiry, they'll find that DeSantis misused those funds intended for COVID relief to violate the rights of vulnerable migrants.
His team is representing many of the migrants that were flown to the Martha's Vineyard and who are part of the class-action lawsuit against Florida officials. One of the claims in that lawsuit is that DeSantis misused those funds.
"I believe that they will find that federal funds were misused, that money that was intended for local governments to respond to a public health emergency, were instead spent to violate the constitutional rights of a very vulnerable population. That's a misuse of federal funds and we fully expect that's what the investigation will determine," he said.
