DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Governor Ron DeSantis pulled back the curtain to clarify how undocumented immigrants were profiled after which how the state used greater than $600,000 of Florida taxpayer-funded transportation on two flights to Martha’s Vineyard this week.
“They are identified as wanting to come to Florida,” Governor DeSantis stated of his controversial flights this week.
DeSantis took from the playbook of a fellow Republican, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, by stunning Democrat-led cities and states with giant influxes of immigrants. Providing little or no information was a part of the plan.
According to the governor, the state of Florida has had individuals on the border since final summer season, “just trying to help Texas.” But he stated lately, he discovered new information about undocumented migrants.
“My guys were like, ‘A lot of these folks want to come to Florida,'” DeSantis stated. “And I was like, ‘Oh, man.'”
He continued saying Florida officers in Texas stated it is “pretty consistent” that “about 40 percent” of the undocumented immigrants talked about Florida.
“And so what we’re trying to do is profile, okay who do you think is going to try to get to Florida?” DeSantis stated. “If they get in a car with two other people, there’s no way we’re going to be able to protect that.”
Continuing, DeSantis stated, “So you’re trying to identify who’s most likely to come and, obviously, if they end up coming to Florida then that’s going to impose a lot of cost on the communities. So we’re trying to avoid that. That’s how you’re doing that. They’re not told that they are going to stay in Florida. They’re told that their ultimate destination, in this case, was up in Massachusetts and Martha’s Vineyard.”
ABC News confirmed the DeSantis administration paid an aviation company $615,000 as a part of a “relocation program” of undocumented immigrants, public data present.
The fee is dated Sept. 8, just below every week earlier than round 50 immigrants were flown to Martha’s Vineyard.
The firm that was paid was listed as Vetrol Systems Company Inc, which has its headquarters at a Destin, Florida airport, in accordance to Open Corporates.
The Florida Department of Transportation, which was allotted $12 million from this yr’s state funds, listed the acquisition as “RELOCATION PROGRAM OF UNAUTHORIZED ALIENS.”
While talking Friday, DeSantis confirmed the state employed a contractor to assist with the flights, “and there’s a bunch of stuff that’s gone into creating the infrastructure.” He stated the state could collaborate sooner or later with others, however for now, the Legislature gave him $12 million to use, “and I’m going to use it.”
Near the tip of the query and reply session the place DeSantis outlined this system, he indicated former President Donald Trump’s coverage of constructing asylum seekers keep in Mexico till their case might be heard was “really the right policy.”
“What’s happening is the asylum process is being abused, because they are trained by activist groups to claim asylum,” DeSantis stated. “So you have people who are in a whole bunch of safe countries and they keep going from one safe country to the next and they make an asylum claim in the United States. That’s not how it works.”
The governor did strive to separate the hundreds of immigrants who’ve come to Florida from these being profiled in Texas.
“I’d definitely draw a distinction between some of what we’ve seen in southern Florida where people have qualified for asylum versus this process that Biden has unleashed where you really have multiple countries that are safe traversing through,” DeSantis stated Friday.
FRIDAY 5 p.m. UPDATE:
The DeSantis administration sent out a doc updating the state’s place on the immigration concern:
9.16.22 Immigration Handout by ABC Action News on Scribd