Ron DeSantis: This Is Why Deporting Illegal Immigrants Is Not 'Punishment'

Forbes Breaking News

At a press briefing about Operation Tidal Wave, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) defended the deportation of illegal immigrants.

Transcript

00:00...stay a priority to get them back home with their families.

00:02A question for the governor, just about the intersection of state law.

00:05We saw that the federal court in Miami on Friday, a judge had reiterated that there was a say

00:10that there was 50 arrests that apparently made, one was for the U.S. citizen up in Tallahassee

00:16on the violation of a federal order.

00:19We hear you kind of take a jab after the trial, this is official, but...

00:23It's not taking a jab.

00:25It's just, you know, you can't have effective immigration enforcement if you have elaborate

00:32procedures that you have to go through.

00:34It is not punishment to be removed from this country.

00:38If you're going to be punished, then you get the full panoply of due process.

00:42But these are not punishments that are being rendered.

00:45It is just the consequence of being here illegally.

00:48Now, in terms of this judge, we are not at all surprised.

00:52We knew that they would go in and do that.

00:55The legislature structured that state law in a way that was different from Texas and

01:01some of the others that have run into problems.

01:03So we actually feel confident that we'll ultimately be vindicated on that.

01:07It should be a crime to enter the state of Florida illegally.

01:11We have police power to be able to do that.

01:13That does not undercut or interfere with federal efforts.

01:16In fact, if anything, that buttresses federal efforts.

01:19So on detention, if we get the sign-off from DHS, we can expand detention space very quickly in Florida.

01:37I mean, just think about it.

01:38I mean, you guys who are Florida-based, you know when we have hurricanes, we end up setting up locations for tens of thousands of linemen, right?

01:45We do that very, very quickly.

01:47So we have the capacity to set it up quickly.

01:50But we're not going to do that without the approval of the Department of Homeland Security.

01:54And I know they're working on exactly what they want to do after tidal wave.

01:58This is what they had focused on.

01:59So Kevin Guthrie, Division of Emergency Management, they can absolutely do that.

02:04And that could be potentially a short-term support for the lack of space that the feds may have.

02:11So we stand ready, willing, and able to help in that space.

02:14We stand ready, willing, and able to help in the immigration judge space.

02:17Because remember, I think not everyone may know because the way it's presented.

02:21These are not Article III judges.

02:23They are executive branch employees, basically.

02:26We can absolutely deputize judge advocates from our National Guard units to serve as immigration judges.

02:33We can do others to do that.

02:35So we'll help on that piece as well.

02:37And we can even help on the transport piece, whether it's transporting.

02:40I know that they were talking about Gitmo.

02:42I don't know that they've used that.

02:43But we can help with that as well.

02:45So we can really be a force multiplier in Florida.

02:48And a lot of it is just because, well, one, we're committed to the mission.

02:51We think it's important.

02:52We know that there's tens of thousands of illegal aliens under deportation orders in this state alone.

02:57I've heard as much as 80,000 may be in the state of Florida who've already been ordered to be deported.

03:03But certainly it's tens of thousands.

03:05But we also have great muscle memory on how to handle quick emergency responses.

03:10So these things can happen very quickly.

03:13Our guys are very nimble.

03:14I mean, you know, you've seen hurricane responses.

03:16But you've also seen us rescue people from Israel.

03:19You've seen us evacuate and rescue people from Haiti.

03:22This is just what we do.

03:24And we stand ready and willing and able to help.

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