Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody sent a letter to United States Attorney General Merrick Garland warning the Justice Department against opening an investigation into its flights sending immigrants to other states.
Moody's letter comes after leaders from California sent a request for the Justice Department to investigate the flights. The request was signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), California Attorney General Rob Bonta, and Bexar County, Texas, Sheriff Javier Salazar.
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The Florida attorney general called the request for the DOJ to investigate "a ridiculous political stunt" and argued their program sending immigrants to sanctuary jurisdictions is "lawful."
"California’s letter requesting that the U.S. Department of Justice investigate Florida is a ridiculous political stunt. Our voluntary immigration relocation program is lawful, and California’s request fails to identify any violations of federal law. As an Attorney General who leads hundreds of highly-qualified lawyers and has led dozens of legal challenges against this administration, it is jarring that California is not competent enough to articulate even a minimal legal basis for its request," Moody said in a statement on Thursday.
"I thought California loved to tout its commitment to illegal immigrants, but now its governor does not want more immigrants in California, claiming that more of them could break his state — how ironic," she added
In the letter Moody sent to Garland, the Florida attorney general alleges that Golden State officials did not identify any violation of law and decried the request as political. She also warned that if the DOJ decides to investigate the Sunshine State they will "stand ready to depose, subpoena, and question Biden Administration officials in connection with such a proceeding.
"While I would urge you not to bail out California or engage in another political investigation or litigation, if you make the unconscionable and unfounded determination to do so, Florida stands ready to fight against DOJ’s overreach. Florida has had tremendous success litigating against DOJ under the Biden Administration and I and Florida’s lawyers stand ready to depose, subpoena, and question Biden Administration officials in connection with such a proceeding," Moody said in her letter to Garland.
She then discussed the Biden administration's border policy, alleging that previous legal action against the administration has shown officials have facilitated a surge of illegal entries at the southern border.
"Another opportunity for litigation will only shine a brighter light on the Biden Administration’s complete abdication of its responsibility as to immigration and the jeopardy in which it has placed our country and its citizens," Moody said in the letter.
California officials asked the Justice Department to open an investigation into the transportation of immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, in 2022 and Sacramento, California, earlier this year. The letter alleges that the state of Florida "deceived migrants into taking flights to these particular locations based on promises of jobs and shelter."
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Gov. Ron DeSantis's (R-FL) office has stated that the immigrants on the planes gave written or verbal consent to their transport before boarding the planes. DeSantis himself called the request by California to investigate Florida "absurd" earlier this week.
Other governors, including Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX), have participated in transporting immigrants from the southern border towns to large cities, such as New York City, Washington, D.C., and Chicago.