From private jets to tacos: Florida's immigration spending surged last summer

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The DeSantis administration dramatically escalated spending last summer on a years-old immigration emergency — with expenses ranging from private jet flights and restaurant tabs to custom badges, according to a state accounting of how his office is using an expiring emergency fund.

That spending included more than $166,000 on restaurant bills and catering, $717,000 on travel — including a $203,000 private jet bill two days before Christmas — and at least $1.7 million on outside attorneys defending the state’s detention centers in court.

Those costs make up only a fraction of the hundreds of millions in spending, most of which went to private contractors and large operational expenses tied to Florida’s immigration crackdown.

The records offer one of the most detailed looks yet at how DeSantis is using a state emergency fund typically reserved for hurricanes and natural disasters to finance immigration enforcement.

Despite repeated assurances from the DeSantis administration that Washington will pick up the tab, Trump administration officials and court filings now indicate that reimbursement remains delayed and uncertain.

If that federal money doesn’t come through, Florida taxpayers could ultimately foot the bill for DeSantis’ sweeping anti-illegal immigration campaign.

Records posted to Florida’s public accountability website and first reported by the Florida Phoenix show spending by the state Division of Emergency Management has ballooned since July, when Alligator Alcatraz first launched as an immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades.

The agency has used the fund to commit $380 million through 83 contracts with private vendors. The largest contracts include $92 million to porta-potty outfit Doodie Calls, $61 million to IRG Global Emergency Management and $52 million to Garner Environmental Services.

The money comes from Florida’s Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund, a pot of cash controlled by the governor. It was first established by the Republican-led Legislature in 2022 to give DeSantis’ office faster access to money during crises. Democrats have long derided it as a “slush fund” for the governor to use as he pleases with scant oversight.

DeSantis first declared a state of emergency on immigration in 2023 under Joe Biden’s administration, allowing him to tap into the fund for immigration enforcement. The governor has extended that 60-day emergency 20 times since then, and leveraged it to justify suspending more than two-dozen state laws and regulations.

DeSantis’ administration spent $49 million from the emergency fund on immigration enforcement in the 2023 to 2024 fiscal year, and $44 million the next year, according to an analysis of state spending records.

That figure exploded to $405 million so far this fiscal year after DeSantis aggressively implemented President Trump’s mass deportation agenda, opening first-of-its-kind, pop-up detention facilities run by a state emergency department rather than law enforcement agencies. That’s more than 70% of the $573 million the state reported spending from the emergency fund on immigration over the past three years.

The spending has expanded far beyond prior years, ranging from the multimillion-dollar contracts awarded to politically-connected campaign donors to tens of thousands in receipts at Tallahassee restaurants.

DeSantis’ administration has used the emergency to pick up the meal tab at restaurants more than 50 times this year alone.

“As the levels of illegal migration increase, the scope of the needed response has increased,” Florida Division of Emergency Management spokeswoman Stephanie Hartman said in a statement.

Federal data shows the number of migrant border crossings plummeted last year.

Restaurants, jets and legal fees

Florida law directs the state to use the emergency fund for “administration, training, and operations” for state local emergency management programs, but it does not explicitly prohibit food and travel expenditures.

The state racked up $156,147 in spending categorized as “food products,” encompassing payments to at least 55 restaurants — many in the Tallahassee area, according to a review of the records.

Payments included charges exceeding $1,000 at 41 establishments like Pedro’s Tacos and Tequila, Bumpa’s Sports Bar and Liberty Bar Restaurant, along with thousands spent at Midtown Caboose, Chick-fil-A, Tropical Smoothie Cafe and Bagel Bagel.

Additional charges appeared at Outback Steakhouse, Kyoto Japanese Cuisine and Korean barbecue restaurants. State records also show purchases at Amazon exceeding $10,000 and more than $20,000 at Sam’s Club under the food category. The single largest purchase in the food category was $18,859 spent at Shannon Outdoors, a rural Georgia company that sells insect-protective clothing and outdoor gear.

Hartman, from the state’s Division of Emergency management, said the restaurant spending was “for food provided to members of the State Emergency Response Team who are activated around the clock and unable to leave the State Emergency Operations Center.”

Travel costs were also significant, spanning $716,989 for airfare and lodging — 16% of the state’s use of the emergency fund for immigration enforcement.

The state paid more than $479,000 to Fort Lauderdale-based TLC Jet Services for private jet flights, including a $203,000 flight logged in late December. The state categorized about half of the funds to the company under supplies and IT services, not as travel expenses.

Though the private jet costs were categorized as spending on the governor’s immigration state of emergency, the Division of Emergency Management said the expense was not actually for this purpose.

“The $203k was used for flights to rescue Floridians from Israel, and the December 23, 2025, date refers to the date the invoice was paid,” Hartman said.

State records also show $145,164 for in-state lodging, mostly at hotels and suites and $6,297 for Airbnb stays last fall. The emergency fund also covered $27,244 in rental cars and included a $2,557 payment to the Spirit Airlines Charitable Foundation.

The state has used the emergency fund to pay at least two corporate law firms. That includes $1.1 million to Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, which is representing the state in a case over whether the state is violating environmental reviews laws at Alligator Alcatraz. Another $606,000 went to Shutts & Bowen LLP, which is defending the state in a case accusing the state of violating detainees’ first amendment rights.

Smaller-dollar charges included $203 paid to a Tallahassee company that produces customized trophies and badges.

The emergency fund is set to expire on Feb. 17. The Florida Senate voted along party lines on Wednesday to renew it through 2027. The legislation includes few guardrails on how the governor can expend the emergency fund on immigration enforcement.

Senate Democrats attempted to place new limits on how the governor can use the emergency fund. But Republicans voted down those proposals, clearing the way for lawmakers to consider extending the emergency fund without adding new limits on how it can be used for immigration enforcement or other purposes.

The last-minute amendment, filed by Senate Minority Leader Lori Berman, D-Boca Raton, would have required the money be used only to respond to a “natural emergency” or to “prepare” for or respond to another defined disaster. Her proposal also would have required approval from the Legislative Budget Commission for any spending that extended beyond 60 days.

A House measure to renew the emergency fund has yet to move through committees.

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(Miami Herald staff writer Churchill Ndonwie contributed to this report.)