Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is budgeting millions of dollars to transport illegal immigrants “to places like Delaware” after the Biden administration left them in Florida as part of what DeSantis characterized as a “mass human smuggling operation.”
In his budget for Fiscal Year 2022-23, DeSantis earmarked $8 million to shield Floridians from the “harms” of illegal immigration by taking them “to other states.”
“So the border’s obviously a disaster, and some people say, ‘Well, that’s a problem for Texas or Arizona.’ Well, actually, the Biden administration puts people on planes and flies them into Florida in the wee hours of the morning,” DeSantis told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Monday.
DeSantis explained that the Biden administration has executed over 70 flights since July, adding that one of the people “Biden dumped” in Florida “ended up committing a murder,” which the governor described as a crime “that would not have happened but for Biden’s recklessness.”
“And so our view is, if they are going to be dumping, you know, we want to be able to facilitate transfer to places like Delaware. And so we have $8 million in my new budget to be able to do that,” DeSantis said.
“But we also look to these carriers that the federal government’s contracting with, and we’re going to pass legislation that says if you are facilitating Biden’s policies, which is effectively a mass human smuggling operation, you are not going to be eligible to do business with the State of Florida or other local governments, and we’re going to charge you restitution for each individual that you’re bringing, because, yes, there are drugs, there are crimes, but you also have things with health care costs, education, all these services that get taxed because of Biden’s reckless policies.”
DeSantis said his office has “a responsibility to fight back, and that’s what we’re doing.”
Ingraham noted a recent Washington Post op-ed that accused the governor of “paving his path to the White House on the backs of vulnerable migrant children,” to which DeSantis responded that Florida resources should be used to help “American kids, Floridians.”
“Let’s not be a repository for people coming from all over the world illegally through the southern border and then brought to the State of Florida. So focusing on your citizens first I think is common sense, and we want it to be — we do not want to facilitate Biden’s reckless policies in any way, shape, or form,” DeSantis said.
“Their policies are wrong, and if the states band together and do things like Florida is proposing to do, it would be more likely that they’re going to have to reverse course, but if you’re facilitating then they’re going to continue to do what they’re doing.”
