There are “massive problems” on the southern border and President Joe Biden is responsible after defaulting on the issue from day one in office, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said in a press conference in Jacksonville, Florida, on Wednesday.
Florida, DeSantis said, has identified Biden’s lack of action on the border crisis from the beginning and has acted in to “combat the negative effects of his border policy,” which he said will only worsen as Title 42 ends this week.
“You’re going to end up having 10,000, 15,000 [border crossers] a day potentially,” he said during the press conference at Miller Electric Company, citing Biden administration estimates of 13,000 illegal aliens crossing the border a day.
“And at that pace on an annual basis, that would be 4.5 million– roughly the size of Miami-Dade and Broward counties combined. Florida’s two most populous counties,” he said, noting that Florida sued the Biden administration to keep Title 42 in place and won that case originally as well.
“Where’s this President’s energy? Where’s his vigor? Where’s his commitment to the cause? He’s just sitting around doing nothing of importance or nothing of note while the American people suffer,” DeSantis said of Biden’s reluctance to handle the border crisis.
The effects have been seen all across the country, he continued, pointing to instances of illegal alien crimes taking place in the Sunshine State as well as the reality of “massive amounts of fentanyl” pouring into the country nationwide.
“Tens of thousands of deaths because of fentanyl every single year, and it’s all coming across the border. It’s all being run by the drug cartels,” he said.
DeSantis also highlighted the cost of health care for illegal aliens in the Sunshine State and found it nearly reaching $340 million for the 2021-2022 Fiscal Year.
“And taxpayers are on the hook for two thirds of that cost. So the Biden administration is trying to increase those costs,” he explained.
“This is a huge, huge dereliction of duty to ignore the security and the borders of your own country. But as I mentioned, we saw this from the very beginning of the Biden administration,” DeSantis continued, describing some of the ways Florida has fought against Biden’s open border policies.
“We sent Florida law enforcement to Texas to the border to help with interdictions and, you know those guys did a good job. I think the problem was is people come, they get interdicted, then you turn them over to Border Patrol, and Border Patrol just releases them into our country anyways, and so you’re thinking to yourself, why is that a great use of our resources?” DeSantis asked.
He also highlighted an executive order that “prohibited agencies in the state of Florida from providing any support for the resettlement of illegals in Florida,” as well as legislation that “prohibited government contracts with any private entity that is assisting the Biden administration and resettling illegal aliens into the state of Florida.”
DeSantis also noted that he signed legislation “requiring public employers, contractors, subcontractors attempting to enter contracts with government employers to do mandatory E-Verify to verify that the workers are legally employed.”
“We also sued the Biden administration for his catch and release policy, and we won in federal court and the panhandle, and we were glad that that happened,” DeSantis continued, highlighting Florida’s latest move: Senate Bill 1718.
“Even the New York Times admitted this is the strongest legislation against the illegal immigration anywhere in the country,” DeSantis said, explaining that the bill “makes Florida the largest state in the country to do full E-Verify for employment.”
And while it is already against the law to employ an individual who is here illegally, E-Verify “provides a way to make sure that that’s enforceable,” DeSantis added, noting that it also invalidates licenses given to illegal aliens in other states as well.
