DeSantis strikes out at Federal 'catch and release' policy
On Sunday March 12, Florida's Republican Governor Ron DeSantis appeared on Fox News to air his views on the recent ruling by a Florida judge that the Biden administrations so-called 'catch and release' policy applied to immigrants crossing the Southern Border, was in fact illegal and that it violated Florida law.
DeSantis appeared to comment on the ruling made by Trump-appointed Judge, who published their ruling in the case brought by Florida against the Federal Government:
“The Court finds in favor of Florida because... the evidence establishes that Defendants have effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand and little more than a speed bump for aliens flooding into the country by prioritizing ‘alternatives to detention’ over actual detention and by releasing more than a million aliens into the country."
Governor DeSantis has previously referred to the issue at the Southern Border as 'Biden's Border Crisis' and has blamed the supposed uncontrolled immigration for issues in Florida including the flow of illegal, counterfeit Fentanyl into the Sunshine State.
Tackling Biden's Border Crisis
Commenting on the recent court ruling, DeSantis had this to say:
"What the ruling basically says is that Joe Biden has been violating the law, his oath of office and the Constitution. They are using this idea of parole and they are converting it into a way to nullify our immigration laws as one of the reasons you’ve had millions and millions of people illegally pour across the border. Biden then paroles them and then they get released into our communities.”
On February 15, in an apparent bid to tackle Florida's perceived problem with illegal immigration, and possibly in a bid to grow his popularity with the Republican voter-base across the nation, DeSantis signed a new bill into effect. The bill will apportion $10 million to transport illegal immigrants out of Florida, and on to so-called 'sanctuary states', under the “Unauthorized Alien Transport Program”.
DeSantis trying to grow his popularity with Republican voters
His focus on the Southern Border crisis, which is admittedly unfolding far away from Florida, seems to be another way in which DeSantis is trying to broaden his appeal to Republican voters outside of Florida. He has recently been traveling to states across the wider U.S. in order to grow his profile and his popularity. However, it does also seem to be an issue that he is genuinely interested in tackling.
As far back as December 2021, DeSantis warned that illegal immigrants ending up in Florida would be relocated to Democratic 'sanctuary states' in order to place ownership of the problem with President Biden and the federal government.
His actions in supporting the relocation of immigrants echoes the actions of many other Republican state governors around the nation. In September 2022, Governor Greg Abbott of Texas was criticized for using immigrants as political pawns, after he bragged online about having shipped over 11,000 immigrants out of Texas by bus, to destinations including Washington DC, New York and Chicago.
Time will tell whether there are wider impacts of the recent court ruling against the Federal Government.
Do you believe that Governor Ron DeSantis is right to be so concerned about the Southern Border Crisis? Is it a distraction from the business of governing Florida? Let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
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