Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wasted no time responding to what appears to be yet another controversial and erroneous move by the Biden administration to poorly tackle the U.S.-Mexico border crisis.
At a press conference on Monday in the Sunshine State, Gov. DeSantis expressed he is “very, very concerned” that the Biden Administration would be spending “hundreds of millions” of taxpayer dollars to incentivize immigrants for illegally crossing the border and defying federal law.
DeSantis added that paying illegal immigrants when both state and federal governments are just doing their jobs and securing our borders would be a “slap in the face to every hardworking American who works hard and plays by the rules,” but especially “a slap in the face to people that have immigrated legally to this country.”
“That should not be allowed to stand, it’s wrong; whatever we can do in Florida to fight back against it, we will do,” DeSantis said.
The multi-million dollar payout is being considered just as U.S. citizens are still reeling from the lockdown-related effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and as current federal mandates have placed thousands of employees nationwide on the chopping block for remaining unvaccinated.
The Wall Street Journal originally reported that the federal government is seriously considering payouts between $450,000 and $1 million for families that were separated at the southern border in 2018, when President Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy was enacted.
This means that most families that illegally crossed the border claiming asylum, regardless of whether their claims have been substantiated, would be receiving larger sums of money than most U.S. citizens are entitled to in average situations.
The Biden administration had been working hard since being sworn into office on reversing most, if not all, key Trump-era policies that statistically kept illegal crossings under control.
Ever since Biden took office, a record number of more than 1.7 million illegal crossings took place in 2021 so far, according to CBP; breaking the record of the last highest number of 1.6 million illegal crossings two decades ago.
When Trump was in office, there were only 400,000 illegal crossings reported in 2020 alone.
Gov. DeSantis sued the Biden Administration in late September over the “catch-and-release” policy that allowed illegal immigrants to remain in the country while they await processing. DeSantis made it clear he wants those breaking the law held accountable while keeping Floridians and U.S. citizens safe from “dangerous criminals, human traffickers, and drug traffickers.”
While the lawsuit is still underway, the Floridian governor has taken extra precautionary steps to defend his own state’s rights by implementing executive orders that protect his citizens from questionable federal orders. The litigation between state governments and the federal government remain ongoing.
