Florida Supreme Court sends challenge of Gov. DeSantis’ migrant removal program to lower court

A Miami resident’s attempt to challenge Gov. Ron DeSantis’ program removing undocumented immigrants from another state to a different state must first be heard in the lower courts, the Florida Supreme Court ruled Monday.

In a unanimous decision, the court rejected Hector Roos’ plea to skip the lower courts and have oral arguments before the Florida Supreme Court, sending the case to the Second Judicial Circuit in Tallahassee.

The court did not give a reason for the decision.

“The transfer of this case should not be construed as an adjudication or comment on the merits of the petition, nor as a determination that the transferee court has jurisdiction or that the petition has been properly denominated as a petition for writ of quo warranto,” the two-page ruling authored by Justice Carlos Muñiz states.

“The transferee court should not interpret the transfer of this case as an indication that it must or should reach the merits of the petition. The transferee court shall treat the petition as if it had been originally filed there on the date it was filed in this Court.”

Lawmakers included $12 million in the current budget for DeSantis to transport undocumented immigrants “from this state,” to another state. DeSantis had boasted he would send the migrants to Delaware, home of Democratic President Joe Biden, whose immigration policies DeSantis has criticized as “open borders.”

But DeSantis instead spent part of the funds to transport about 50 migrants originally from Venezuela who were picked up in Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, a liberal enclave in Massachusetts. The plane made a short stop in the Florida Panhandle before going to Massachusetts.

The move led to vehement protests and critiques by Democrats, who called it a political stunt that used immigrants as pawns. One Republican, Sen. Jeff Brandes of St. Petersburg, noted the law authorizing the program didn’t allow DeSantis to move migrants from a different state.

Roos filed his lawsuit in late September, alleging DeSantis didn’t have the authority to remove the migrants from Texas.

“Because the United States and Florida Constitutions do not provide a general grant of authority for a governor to exercise any power outside the state and no such authorization from Texas through a Compact inviting the Governor to act exists, last week’s official actions by Respondent Governor Ron DeSantis has exceeded his lawful authority, meriting a writ of quo warranto,” Roos’ initial petition stated.

Separate from this lawsuit, two others have been filed seeking to end DeSantis’ migrant removal program. State Sen. Jason Pizzo, a Miami Democrat, also filed in the Second Judicial Circuit, and three of the migrants on the flight to Martha’s Vineyard are suing DeSantis in federal court in Massachusetts.