White House: DeSantis is making a mockery of US immigration system
Haisten Willis
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The White House didn’t hold back Friday afternoon as it continues a war of words with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) over the issue of illegal immigration.
The Biden and DeSantis teams, each closely watched as the 2024 elections come into view, have lashed out at each other in recent days, with reporters relaying statements between the two at press conferences. That trend continued during Friday’s White House press briefing.
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“DeSantis is making a mockery of the [immigration] system,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in response to a reporter’s question. “He has consistently and constantly, as many of you have reported, done political stunts, has not helped to address this issue but has instead decided to put the lives of migrants who are coming here for a better life at risk.”
Earlier in the week, Jean-Pierre said DeSantis activating the Florida National Guard over illegal immigration was a political stunt that treated immigrants like political pawns.
That prompted a response from DeSantis the next day.
“The Coast Guard actually requested the state’s assistance — they had all these vessels coming,” DeSantis said, adding that Florida is “filling in the gaps” where the federal government is failing.
“We’ve been very aggressive, really across the board, at mitigating the damage from Biden’s disastrous border policies, and part of it is just what they’re doing at the border, but part of it is the message that’s gone out to say, ‘The rules don’t matter. Just show up and you’re fine.’ And you can’t run a country like that, and it’s caused a lot of problems,” DeSantis continued.
The Florida governor declared a state of emergency on Jan. 9 following the recent arrival of immigrants in the Florida Keys. DeSantis issued an executive order that activated the National Guard and other state resources “to protect Floridians from the dangerous impacts of the Biden Border Crisis.”
He has promised his continued support as the impact of the migrant surge is mitigated, even threatening to bill the White House for the costs.
“We are going to clear the vessels free of charge for those residents because it wasn’t their fault,” he said. “Maybe we’ll send the bill to Biden — we’ll see — but the reality is this is just not the way you run a country.”
Jean-Pierre defended the Biden administration’s actions, saying DeSantis was only making the situation worse.
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“When it comes to the Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection, they’re deploying additional personnel and resources to Florida to quickly process individuals and place them in removal proceedings,” she said. “I would note that the migrants from Cuba who arrived in Florida over a week ago were processed and moved out of the state by Border Patrol within days.”
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