Gov. Ron DeSantis is condemning a "problematic" migrant transport program from the Joe Biden administration that has seen Miami used as a pass through for 326,000 undocumented immigrants since Oct. 2022, according to the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS).
However, he added that there is no real evidence that these ferried foreign nationals are choosing to settle in the Sunshine State as a final destination.
"First of all, it's an illegal program. They're bringing people in who don't have a right to be in this country from foreign countries," DeSantis said in Polk City.
Per CIS, Florida is the "top landing and U.S. customs processing zone for this direct-flights parole-and-release program."
But DeSantis suggests those arrivals are moving on.
"We have not seen large numbers in our communities all of a sudden, like you've seen in New York and Chicago and some of these other (cities). And so that may be the case that he's bringing people in under this illegal parole program and then they're migrating to sanctuary jurisdictions that could be happening," DeSantis said.
This analysis conflicts with CIS' hypothesis on the phenomenon, which suggests that a lot of people who land in Miami don't leave, even though Florida is not, in the Governor's parlance, a "sanctuary state."
"Many of the landing Cubans, Venezuelans, and Haitians will obviously choose to stay in Florida, where expatriate communities are already large. But some percentage of the newly 'legalized' aspiring border crossers who land there and in Texas, New York, and California likely transfer to domestic flights to their final destinations across the nation," the report said.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services notes that a condition of this program is that "Individuals participating in these processes must have a supporter in the United States who agrees to provide them with financial support for the duration of their parole in the United States.
The Governor also said Wednesday that an "large uptick of vessels" containing Haitian refugees he warned against weeks ago hasn't manifested, seemingly chilling the need for a Special Session of the Legislature to create a legislative response to that perceived threat.
He had already launched Operation Vigilant Sentry, which is designed to keep Haitian refugees from making landfall and finding refuge in Florida, with 250 total forces deployed from the Florida State Guard, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Florida National Guard and the Florida Highway Patrol.
Despite those masses not yet descending on the state, DeSantis suggested that Biden might facilitate a Haitian influx through his federal flight program, and "fly a bunch of people from Haiti to different parts of the United States, maybe Guantanamo, maybe someplace on the continental United States."
Ironically, DeSantis has transported undocumented immigrants at taxpayer expense in recent years, including an infamous decision to fly people from Texas to Martha's Vineyard, a move that was a recurrent talking point of his failed Presidential campaign.
There apparently are different rules for "Air DeSantis" and "Air Biden," however.
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