It’s no secret that Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis isn’t a fan of the immigration policies being put forth by the Biden administration.
On Wednesday, as he made a visit to the U.S. southern border with Mexico, the GOP presidential candidate said his home state is not considered a sanctuary for the trove of illegal immigrants who come into the country.
Those comments were in direct response to an investigation that the state of California recently launched into DeSantis and his administration. Two separate planes of migrants flew to Sacramento recently, in the latest transport of migrants from border states to liberal-led areas of the country.
During his trip on Wednesday, DeSantis was in Cochise County to meet with various border sheriffs so that he could assess, right from the source, just how bad the surge of illegal immigration is.
At that event, he told reporters:
“I think the border should be closed. I don’t think we should have any of this. But if there’s a policy to have an open border, then I think the sanctuary jurisdictions should be the ones that have to bear that.
“We are not a sanctuary in Florida, and yes, we note people want to come, and so the more we can divert before we even have to get there is good for our state.”
Rob Bonta, the attorney general in California, has launched an investigation after two flights landed in Sacramento recently filled with illegal immigrants. They were apparently sent at the behest of DeSantis, though the migrants first came to the U.S. into Texas and then flew to California from New Mexico.
In emphasizing his point about sanctuary jurisdictions, DeSantis explained:
“A place like California, they give benefits. They give unemployment checks. They do all that, and so you can see why some of those folks were interested in going that direction.
“In Florida, we have gone the opposite way. We say we’re going to have a legal workforce. We’re not going to have benefits. We’re not going to do that and basically trying to disincentivize it. Other states have tried to incentivize it, and so I think they should be the ones to pay to do it.”
Bonta is claiming that the migrants who were flown on the planes to Sacramento recently were kidnapped. He said his office is continue to discover evidence in the case, some of which is showing that the migrants were seriously misled as to what would happen once they boarded the plane, landed and then got off in California.
As Bonta said:
“I want to say this very clearly: State-sanctioned kidnapping is not a public policy choice. It is immoral and disgusting.
“We are a nation built by immigrants, and we must condemn the cruelty and hateful rhetoric of those, whether they are state leaders or private parties, who refuse to recognize humanity and who turn their backs on extending dignity and care to fellow human beings.”
Last September, DeSantis also sent flights filled with migrants to the very liberal and wealthy Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.
