Larry Keefe, who planned Florida migrant flights, to head immigration board

Romy Ellenbogen, Tampa Bay Times on Feb 17, 2025

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TALLAHASSEE — Larry Keefe, who coordinated flights that took about 50 migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, will again have his hands in Florida’s immigration enforcement.

The Florida Cabinet appointed him executive director for the new State Board of Immigration Enforcement on Monday.

The board was created by a bill passed by the Florida Legislature and signed into law by DeSantis last week. The bill was a compromise after DeSantis sparred with the Legislature over its initial plan to give much of the governor’s immigration authority to the agriculture commissioner.

The immigration board includes all members of Florida’s Cabinet and requires a unanimous vote for any action.

At the Cabinet meeting Monday, Keefe said it was the “perfect job” for him.

Keefe was DeSantis' public safety czar when Florida launched its state-funded migrant flights, and traveled to Texas to oversee the program. Several of the migrants that Florida flew to Martha’s Vineyard had legal status in the U.S. as asylum seekers.

In organizing the program, Keefe used a private email address with the name “Clarice Starling,” a reference to “The Silence of the Lambs,” to help a former client win a state contract to operate the flights.

As public safety czar, Keefe also was instrumental in the governor’s removal of Hillsborough State Attorney Andrew Warren from office.

Keefe resigned from his post in the DeSantis administration in 2023 and went on to volunteer with DeSantis' failed presidential campaign.

Before he worked for the state, Keefe worked as a private attorney and as the U.S. attorney for Florida’s Northern District under President Donald Trump’s first administration.