Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ripped President Joe Biden on Monday, accusing the president of running a “human smuggling operation” on the southern border.
Last month, DeSantis’ administration accused the federal government of making dozens of flights between the southern border and northern Florida. The flights have brought thousands of illegal migrants into Florida for resettlement as the administration has struggled to maintain crowded and overflowing border facilities.
DeSantis has hammered Biden in recent weeks over the flights, threatening to round up the illegals and ship them to the president’s home state of Delaware. In September, Florida filed suit against the federal government over its immigration policy, claiming that the relocation of thousands of illegals into Florida is illegal. The governor also issued an order authorizing Florida law enforcement “to detain any aircraft, bus, or other vehicle within the State of Florida reasonably believed to be transporting illegal aliens to Florida from the Southwest Border.”
DeSantis continued his attacks on Monday, appearing on Fox News’ “Ingraham Angle” with host Laura Ingraham. DeSantis said, according to Fox News:
So, the border is 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. They’ve done over 70 flights in the last six months, dump people here. And we had — a few weeks ago — one of those people that Biden dumped, ended up committing a murder in northeast Florida. So, these are crimes that would not have happened but for Biden’s recklessness. So, our view is, if they’re going to be dumping, 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. We also look to these carriers that the federal government is contracting with, and we are 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 able to do business with the state of Florida or other local governments, and we are going to charge you restitution for each individual that you are bringing.
At the order of the Supreme Court, the Biden administration is reimplementing Trump-era immigration policies known as “Remain in Mexico,” which forces asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for their asylum claims to be heard in court. The Biden administration has continued its attempts to repeal the policy, however.
The Biden administration has pursued its own potential policy of pushing economic investment in Central American countries and the origin of the majority of immigrants migrating to the United States. Vice President Kamala Harris, who is running point for the administration on the border crisis, has claimed that the investment will address the “root causes” of migration from Central America. As The Daily Wire reported:
According to the White House, Harris “announced seven new commitments as part of the Call to Action she launched on May 27 for businesses and social enterprises to make new, significant commitments to sustainably address the root causes of migration by promoting economic opportunity.”
The seven companies cited by the White House for stepping up their foreign economic investment include CARE International, Cargill, Grupo Mariposa, Parkdale Mills, PepsiCo, JDE Peet’s, and PriceSmart.
Mastercard, Microsoft, and Nespresso are also increasing their economic investment in Central America as well.