Ron DeSantis returns to Tallahassee after Lake Wales stop amid immigration spending news

Ron DeSantis flew from Lake Wales Municipal Airport to Tallahassee International Airport on May 15, a 42-minute hop aboard the state-owned Cessna Citation Latitude N943FL. The brief trip came after a day of official travel that included stops in Miami and the Lake Wales area.

The flight arrives in Tallahassee the same week Florida’s Division of Emergency Management disclosed it has spent nearly $460 million on immigration enforcement over the past year, per the Tallahassee Democrat. The spending, drawn from the state’s Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund, covers operations at facilities like the Everglades Airport detention center nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz,” which DeSantis said has processed nearly 22,000 migrants since opening last summer.

The governor’s travel pattern this week—shuttling between Tallahassee, Miami, and central Florida—mirrors his focus on immigration policy. DeSantis has renewed a state of emergency over illegal immigration more than 20 times since January 2023, and his administration recently submitted a plan to the federal government to expand detention capacity, as noted in a press release from the governor’s office.