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Read: Markey, Mass. reps want Buttigieg to investigate DeSantis for breaking DOT rules

The lawmakers said they have "deep concerns" about the migrants flown to Martha's Vineyard under "reportedly false pretenses."

Several Massachusetts lawmakers are calling on U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to investigate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s transport of about 50 migrants to Martha’s Vineyard earlier this month.

In a letter Wednesday, the lawmakers — including Sen. Ed Markey and Reps. Lori Trahan, Seth Moulton, William Keating, Stephen Lynch, and Jake Auchincloss — pointed specifically to the Department of Transportation’s Charter-Broker Rule, which prohibits air charter brokers from making certain misrepresentations.

By allegedly misleading the migrants about their ultimate destination, those who orchestrated the flights “may have violated the Charter-Broker Rule and be liable for a civil penalty,” the lawmakers wrote.

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“The Department should use all tools within its authority — including enforcement of its consumer protection rules — to ensure that migrants
are not transported under false pretenses as part of a competition among wannabe Trump acolytes to claim the mantle of cruelest governor in the United States,” they added.

Read the full letter here:

Massachusetts lawmakers’ letter to Buttigieg

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Abby Patkin

Staff Writer

Abby Patkin is a general assignment news reporter whose work touches on public transit, crime, health, and everything in between.

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