Gov. Ron DeSantis led the taxpayer-funded operation with the help of a politically-connected private vendor because he wanted to prevent migrants from coming to Florida. Even though the governor was only authorized under state law to relocate migrants from Florida, DeSantis said he recruited migrants in Texas for the flights because it was easier to find them traveling together at the border than spread out across Florida.

But it was the tactics the state used in the operation that eventually led Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar to launch a criminal investigation and grant each migrant a certification that allowed them to apply for U visas.