Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, announced a proposal to work with private companies to transport illegal aliens out of the state and challenge the immigration policies of Joe Biden.
“In yesterday’s budget, I put in $8 million for us to be able to transport people here illegally out of the state of Florida,” DeSantis said during a press conference on Friday. “It’s somewhat tongue in cheek, but it is true, if you sent them to Delaware or Martha’s Vineyard or some of these places, that border would be secure the next day.”
According to the Miami Herald, the program would be paid for by interest accrued from federal funds.
“One of the priorities that we’ve been working on for many months now, and we’ll continue to work with the legislature when they get back is dealing with the fallout from the reckless border policies of the Biden administration, DeSantis told reporters.
The governor said his office will be proposing a “series of legislative reforms” to deal with illegal migration and push back against Biden’s immigration agenda. This would include measures to bar from state contracts any contractors who helped the federal government transport migrants into and across Florida.
“We have a responsibility to stand up for the rule of law,” said DeSantis.
Biden’s Department of Homeland Security confirmed that it expects over two million illegal immigrants to cross the border by the end of this year, and Biden has faced major scrutiny from the GOP on his handling of the border.
“Our immigration system is on fire, and bad policies are fanning the flames,” wrote Representative Tony Gonzales (R-Texas) in a recent essay. Gonzales’ district includes 800 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border.
Also on Friday, DeSantis, speaking to Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, described the toll that illegal migration takes Floridians:
Any of these contractors [who] are facilitating Biden’s illegal policies by bringing people in the Florida — oftentimes flying in at two o’clock in the morning with no notice to the state — anyone who’s doing that forfeits the ability to have contracts with state and local government in the state of Florida. And they’re going to be responsible for providing restitution to the state of Florida for every single person [whom] they bring.
Because when they dump somebody, a lot of costs end up being borne by the state in the future, whether that’s education, health care, whether that’s the criminal justice system. Unfortunately, we had somebody brought from Biden [who] murdered somebody in Jacksonville just a few weeks ago. And so we’re very concerned about doing that, and we want to basically say this is not the right decision to be making to be facilitating … basically an illegal human smuggling operation.
DeSantis also suggested the state would withhold industry licenses from nonprofits and other institutions “who are actively helping Biden do this.”
Immigration has traditionally been seen as an exclusively federal issue. DeSantis countered that states have a role to play when the federal government doesn’t fulfill its responsibilities.
“The federal government’s got a lot of authority on immigration,” he said. “But if they’re not doing their job, if they’re forfeiting their responsibilities, I just don’t think states should be in a position where we’re helpless and we can’t do anything. So we anticipate conflict, but you can’t just run away from that and say you’re not going to do nothing.”
DeSantis is one of several Republican governors who has sent National Guard troops to the Texas border to assist in stopping the massive migrant flow.
Republicans’ actions to proactively combat illegal migration at the state level come at the same time that the party has shown a new willingness to reduce legal as well illegal migrant numbers. Representative Jim Banks (R-Ind.), chairman of the Republican Study Committee, recently introduced a new bill that aims to reform the H-1B visa program, under which U.S. firms can temporarily hire foreign workers in specialty occupations.
Critics of the H-1B visa program say it displaces American workers and undercuts their wages. Banks’ bill, titled the “American Tech Workforce Act of 2021,” would implement measures to reduce the number of foreign visas awarded and prioritize the hiring of U.S. citizens.
The proposal already has 11 co-sponsors, including Representatives Mary Miller, (R-Ill.), Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.), and Eric Crawford, (R-Ark.).
