DeSantis On the Haitian Invasion: "Their Next Stop Could Be Martha's Vineyard"

DeSantis discusses stopping and repelling boats of Haitians, like the one that hit north of Palm Beach last month.

Mar 19, 2024

Dana was joined earlier today by Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis to discuss the reported deluge of Haitians attempting to enter Florida and the steps Florida has taken to repel it. The Governor noted:

“Well, first it's just important to point out this is the job of the federal government and the Coast Guard actually does a good job, but they are way undermanned because Biden is not devoting enough resources. And so we've seen issues with this now going on for quite some time. So in January of 2023, over a year ago, I made an executive order and we plussed up a lot of people to fill in the gaps. Since January of 2023 the state of Florida has interdicted 660 vessels and repelled over 13,000 illegal aliens. And that's just the state of Florida's vessels.”

The vessels aren't just transporting people either, many have been found with weapons, drugs and night-vision goggles, all illegally acquired. Those responsible were found to have been shipped to Florida directly. A federal parole program approved by the Biden Administration sent a soaring number of illegal aliens into Florida in 2022, with 35,349 in fiscal year 2022 rising to 236,691 in fiscal year 2023.

DeSantis detailed what steps Florida has taken to work around this problem:

“What we did was we upped penalties, so if you've previously been deported and you commit an offense in Florida, you're getting the book thrown at you. We don't issue driver's licenses to illegal aliens in Florida. We don't recognize out of state licenses that have been issued to illegal aliens. But we gotta make sure that if they're coming to Florida, that's not a good place to be driving without a license. So we did that, which I think is very significant. And then finally, when we said no ID, some of the local governments a couple of years ago were talking about issuing their own IDs to illegals, not driver's license, but IDs, some NGOs were trying to do it. So we did legislation a couple of years ago and said no. But what we've also now done is said, ok, you can't issue that in Florida but if someone gets an NGO to issue them, an ID in California or anything you can't accept it either.”

He also explained the legalities that come into play when interdicting vessels loaded with Haitians compared to what happens when maritime issues aren’t involved, as in the case of land crossings at the southern borders of states like Texas and Arizona.

DeSantis has been very proactive in trying to resolve the issue as best as a border state governor can with a lawless federal administration. Every state should follow the example.

Watch the full interview below.