Florida Legislature Considers More Illegal Immigrant Flights

Illegal immigrants wait outside the Migrant Resource Center to receive food from the San Antonio Catholic Charities in San Antonio, Texas, on Sept. 19, 2022. Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images

The Florida state Legislature is set to decide whether to spend $10 million flying illegal immigrants to other places in the United States.

In September 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sent two planes carrying 49 mostly Venezuelan illegal immigrants apprehended at the Texas-Mexico border to the Martha’s Vineyard, an affluent Massachusetts resort island where former President Barack Obama owns a mansion. DeSantis later signaled that he might arrange more flights to other Democratic strongholds like Delaware and Illinois.

In a proposal introduced Monday, Republican state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia argued that Florida should establish a three-year “Unauthorized Alien Transport Program” to further the governor’s efforts.

“The Federal Government has failed to secure the nation’s borders and has allowed a surge of inspected unauthorized aliens to enter the United States,” the language of the proposal reads. “The Federal Government has proven itself unwilling to address this crisis.”

The proposed program is meant to mitigate the effects of the border crisis on the Sunshine State by “facilitating the transport of inspected unauthorized aliens within the United States,” Ingoglia wrote.

If established, the program would be overseen by Florida’s Transportation Department. The first year of the program would cost $10 million.

To put it in perspective, the price tag of two flights to Martha’s Vineyard was 615,000 for 50 passengers. The governor’s office has revealed that those one-way plane tickets were paid for using interest generated from federal pandemic relief money.

Ingoglia’s proposal will be discussed at this week’s special session, during which lawmakers will also address the plan to dismantle Disney’s self-governing Reedy Creek special district. Should the legislature not make any changes prior to June 1, Reedy Creek will be dissolved on that date, with Disney losing the privileges it has enjoyed since the late 1960s when Walt Disney expanded the company east from California to Florida.

The Democrats in the state Legislature criticized the session, saying that it serves no purpose other than helping the governor with his future political bid.

“Florida taxpayer dollars are being used for the governor to campaign for president,” said Sen. Jason Pizzo, the minority leader pro tempore.

Florida Declares Emergency

In January, DeSantis declared a state of emergency, directing the state’s National Guard and agencies to support local governments to deal with the influx of illegal immigrants landing on Florida’s shores.

“The number of individuals attempting to come to the United States and unauthorized alien interdictions in and around Florida has risen to alarming levels not seen for decades,” the Republican governor said, noting that this could continue to overburden the local governments throughout his state.

“From august 2022 to the present, federal, state, and local officials have interdicted approximately 8,042 migrants in Florida’s territorial waters alone,” he added.