Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Friday he is taking action to stop President Joe Biden’s administration from continuing to send illegal immigrants to his state, often in the dead of night and without informing state authorities.
But rather than target the administration, DeSantis is going after those “facilitating” Biden’s agenda.
“Any of these contractors that are facilitating Biden’s illegal policies by bringing people into 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,” he told Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
“And they’re going to be responsible for providing restitution to the state of Florida for every single person that 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,” he noted further.
Among the costs: A 24-year-old illegal alien given entry by the Biden administration by claiming to be an unaccompanied minor stands accused of murdering Francisco Javier Cuellar, 46.
“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 what is basically an illegal human smuggling operation,” the Sunshine State governor added.
In addition to contractors, DeSantis said his administration is also targeting non-profit groups.
“We’re not going to be giving licenses to [non-profits] who are actively helping Biden do this. And so we want people focusing on our own citizens,” he said.
The failure to secure our nation’s border is affecting communities across our state & nation. Today, I outlined additional proposals for consideration in the next legislative session that will protect Florida from the Biden Admin’s reckless border policies
— Ron DeSantis
“A lot of people do a lot of great work. We’ve got a lot of people in our state that need help, and we can’t just have people who are from foreign countries displacing the needs of our own people,” the GOP governor added.
Carlson responded with a warning that his plans will most likely “enrage” the Biden administration.
“Do you anticipate some kind of legal conflict with them?” the host queried.
“We’re already in legal conflict with them,” DeSantis replied.
“I will say, they have already switched from what they had been doing as a result of our lawsuit. They had been giving people a notice to report,” the governor continued.
“You come illegally, they give you a sheet of paper, they say hey call us and schedule a hearing sometime with no consequences. Well, obviously that is toothless,” DeSantis added.
“They now have shifted to doing what’s called the notice to appear,” he added, adding that a failed appearance automatically means the illegal migrant can be deported.