Ron DeSantis Champions Migrant Relocations: Combating Biden's Virtue-Signaling 'Stunt'

Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Tuesday championed his state’s decision to relocate migrants to sanctuary jurisdictions, noting that the state is trying to address the problem at the “source” and is prepared to “make more of an impact.”

He also addressed critics who accuse him and other Republican governors of pulling political stunts by sending migrants to blue areas, explaining that the “biggest stunt” was “Biden coming in as president and reversing Trump’s policies, just so he could virtue signal that he was against Trump.”

When asked why Florida is relocating migrants in Texas, DeSantis explained that there have been efforts specifically in the Panhandle to address the issue of illegal immigration. However, DeSantis said while there are drug seizures and things of that nature, it is simply not enough to stop what he described as the “mass migration,” as the numbers of migrants who reach Florida are small compared to border states. However, many of these migrants, DeSantis said, have a final goal of making it to Florida. 

“We’ve had people on the border for last summer, we’ve done a lot of intelligence, and everyone down there will say between a third and 40 percent of the people coming across are seeking to end up in Florida. And so we have to go and figure out okay, who are those people likely to be, and if you can do it at the source and divert to sanctuary jurisdictions, the chance they end up in Florida is much less,” DeSantis said, expressing the importance of addressing the issue at the very source.

“If I can do it all in Florida, I would. But if we just ignore the source, then you’re gonna have people trickling in 5, 10 a day, 20 a day. I don’t know, but there’s no way you can possibly track all of that because it’s on such a small scale, ” he said, explaining that you can find 1,000 migrants on the border seeking to make it to Florida and instead offer to take them to a sanctuary jurisdiction.

“I think that that’s much more effective than just trying to send one or two out at a time,” he said, emphasizing that the state has the infrastructure to make it happen thanks to moves of the legislature.

“It’s already made more of an impact than anyone thought it could possibly make. But we’re going to continue to make more of an impact. And I think that at the end of the day, what we’re doing is not the ultimate solution,” he said, explaining that this is simply helping to open eyes to the magnitude of the problem while the Biden administration and corporate press continues to ignore it.

He also addressed critics who accuse him and other GOP governors of pulling political stunts.

“They’ll say like, oh, you know, sending a bus from Texas is a stunt. The biggest stunt is Biden coming in as president and reversing Trump’s policies, just so he could virtue-signal that he was against Trump. It didn’t matter that the policy had worked. He had to be anti and so that’s why he did it,” the governor said, adding that the reaction from Martha’s Vineyard elites is truly telling.

This island of wealthy elites claimed to lack the resources to care for 50 migrants. How then, the governor asked, do these Democrat elites expect normal communities to carry the burden?

“They said they couldn’t accommodate. … If the wealthiest island, one of the wealthiest in America, can’t accommodate 50, then you’re looking at all these other communities and they’re just supposed to accommodate all this more?” he asked.

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