With just months before Florida gets a new chief executive, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday installed a familiar face to lead the state’s main law enforcement agency.
DeSantis appointed Larry Keefe, a former top aide to the governor who helped carry out the plan to transport immigrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in 2022, as commissioner of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
The operation sparked outrage and eventually led to state legislators putting limits on immigration enforcement outside of the state of Florida.
The governor’s choice to hire Keefe was approved by the three members of the Florida Cabinet, as required by law. The appointment does require Senate confirmation.
Keefe’s service in the DeSantis administration has included time as public safety czar and eight months as executive director of the State Board of Immigration Enforcement; Keefe left that job a year ago.
During brief remarks before the vote, DeSantis praised Keefe.
“In every position he had he has performed at the highest possible level,” DeSantis said. “Larry will lead the agency with distinction, ensuring the rule of law and public safety remain a top priority.”
Keefe takes the place of Mark Glass, who had been in charge of FDLE since 2022. Glass, a military veteran who had become director of Capitol Police before his promotion to FDLE commissioner, is taking a job in Miami-Dade County, where he will be the second-in-command in the sheriff’s office.
Keefe, who once worked in a Northwest Florida law firm with Matt Gaetz, was U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Florida during the first term of President Donald Trump. He was not retained by President Joe Biden and was then hired by DeSantis.
It was during his time as public safety czar that he played a key role in setting up the high-profile migrant transport to Martha’s Vineyard and was on the initial leg of the flight from Texas. Public records obtained by news organizations showed that Keefe had used private emails under the alias “Clarice Starling” — a character in “The Silence of the Lambs” novel — to help a former client win the contract to operate the migrant flights.
Keefe also was also involved in DeSantis’ 2022 removal of Andrew Warren as state attorney for Hillsborough County. The governor removed Warren on several grounds, including his pronouncement that he would not enforce laws limiting abortion. Warren unsuccessfully challenged his removal in federal court but during the trial Keefe testified about the research and work he did ahead of Warren’s suspension.
In early 2025, Keefe became the first executive director of the State Board of Immigration Enforcement. The Legislature in concert with DeSantis created the board to consolidate efforts against undocumented immigration and approve state grants to reimburse state and local law enforcement.
But Keefe left several months later, in October of last year, in what the governor’s office called a planned move at the time.
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