Larry Keefe, who as public safety “czar” in Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration helped orchestrate controversial flights of migrants from Texas to Massachusetts in 2022, was named Monday to oversee immigration enforcement in Florida.
Keefe, a former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Florida, will serve as executive director of the new State Board of Immigration Enforcement, which was created as part of a law that DeSantis and the Republican-controlled Legislature approved last week.
The board is made up of DeSantis and the members of the Cabinet — Attorney General James Uthmeier, state Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson.
DeSantis and the Cabinet met Monday for the first time as the immigration enforcement board at Northwest Florida State College in Niceville. Keefe told the board that he will be “relentless” in fulfilling the “responsibilities under this new legislation.”
Keefe was nominated for the position by Uthmeier, who hours earlier was sworn in as attorney general after previously serving as DeSantis’ chief of staff. Uthmeier succeeded former Attorney General Ashley Moody, who was appointed last month by DeSantis to the U.S. Senate after Marco Rubio became U.S. secretary of state.
Uthmeier noted that he and Keefe have worked together on various law enforcement efforts.
“He also helped us with executive actions to collect data and better understand the real harms and taxes that the state faces as a result of an influx of illegal immigrants,” Uthmeier said. “He also helped organize some relocation flights that I think some of you might have heard about, including one to Martha's Vineyard.”
The DeSantis administration paid for private aircraft to fly 49 migrants on Sept. 14, 2022, from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, with a brief stop in the Northwest Florida community of Crestview. The flights drew national media attention. Also, attorneys for three migrants from Venezuela and the nonprofit group Alianza Americas filed a class-action lawsuit over the flights that is pending in Massachusetts.
DeSantis called Keefe “a great choice” to bring about agreements between the federal government and local law enforcement agencies that he said are “absolutely essential” to immigration enforcement efforts.
“There's a lot of moving parts to this issue right now,” DeSantis said. “Last time, it was Martha's Vineyard. This time, maybe Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. I don't know how it's going to shake out. I just know that we're going to be there, we’re going to be on the vanguard of that.”
As they approved the bill last week, Republican lawmakers and DeSantis last week repeatedly cited a need to help President Donald Trump carry out immigration enforcement.
The board will coordinate immigration enforcement and dole out $250 million in grants to local law enforcement agencies to assist federal efforts.
Also Monday, Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, and House Speaker Daniel Perez, R-Miami, announced appointments to a new State Immigration Enforcement Council, which will serve in an advisory role to the State Board of Immigration Enforcement.
Albritton appointed Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, and Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, while Perez appointed Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters and Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell.
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