Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed into law a bill that would allow him to continue to transport migrants to other states.
"Florida is using all tools available to protect our citizens from Biden's open border policies," DeSantis said in a post on Twitter Wednesday afternoon with a photo of the signing ceremony. "I am glad to have signed legislation to continue the program of transporting illegal aliens to sanctuary jurisdictions. I thank the legislature for maintaining this valuable tool."
The program, funded with $10 million, will enable the state to transport illegal migrants to other places around the country.
The legislation passed the State Senate last week with a vote 27-12, and a State House vote came in at 77-34.
"People are sick of having an open border with no rule of law in this country," the Washington Examiner reported DeSantis saying at a recent news conference. "We can just sit here and do nothing about it, or we can actually stand up and say, 'Whatever tools we have at our disposal, we are going to be using.'"
DeSantis, a Republican, drew national attention in September 2022 when he flew 50 illegal migrants to Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts to highlight the surge of record numbers illegally crossing the southern U.S. border as a criticism of President Joe Biden's border policies, the New York Times reported.
Florida joined both Texas and Arizona in sending the illegal migrants to Democratic-run states and cities like New York and Washington, D.C.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has said his city lacks the resources to take on the thousands of migrants sent there.
"Our cities are being undermined. And we don't deserve this. Migrants don't deserve this. And the people who live in the cities don't deserve this," the Associated Press reported Adams said as he wrapped up a visit to El Paso last month. "We expect more from our national leaders to address this issue in a real way."
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has also criticized the Biden administration for not addressing the crisis at the border.
"It was a mistake for President Biden to open the border without having a plan to handle the tremendous flow of people," the New York Post reported Cuomo saying in his latest "Matter of Fact" podcast. "President Biden had said he would do it in the campaign — but you can't change a policy unless you have the program in place to manage the change."
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