Treasury Department to probe DeSantis' use of COVID relief money

Meridian ID

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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. 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. 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. 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." 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.