DeSantis: Florida not busing immigrants because Biden stopped sending them

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration has not yet started busing undocumented immigrants from Florida to other parts of the country, in part, he says, because the Biden administration has stopped sending them.

During the 2022 legislative session, DeSantis championed a proposal to take migrants sent from the southern border to Florida as part of a long running program through the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement. The $12 million proposal was tucked in a larger immigration bill that was among the most contentious of the legislative session.

DeSantis has tied the busing proposal to his broader immigration fight with President Joe Biden, who he is considering running against in 2024. DeSantis has regularly used, in stump speeches, a line about busing immigrants to Delaware, the president’s home state. But since the law took effect almost two months ago, there have been no buses, DeSantis told reporters on Tuesday, because Texas has been taking a large number of immigrants and busing them to places like Washington, D.C. and New York City.

“Texas is taking people,” DeSantis said after a morning Florida Cabinet meeting. “Biden has not sent anyone to us since we got that. He does send children all across the country in the middle of the night and dumps them all over the United States, which I think is very reckless.”

“We have not had buses coming in, we have had people trickle in," DeSantis said. "I think because of what Texas has done, that has actually taken a lot of pressure off us."

The Florida Department of Transportation, the DeSantis administration agency tasked with running the program, was asked three months ago how it was going to be implemented and operated. The agency has not responded to multiple requests for information, and DeSantis’ remarks Tuesday were the first time it had been addressed publicly since the spring close of the legislative session.

DeSantis said that the overarching aim of the policy is to change federal immigration policy, which he has made central to his feud with Biden. Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has taken a similar approach, and undocumented immigrants bused from his state have been overwhelming various cities’ infrastructure. New York Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, earlier this month called it “horrific,” and said city shelters are being overcrowded.

“Reason they are doing New York and reason I was suggesting D.C. and Delaware and stuff is because it will potentially cause a change of policy,” DeSantis said.

The Biden administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

He also said border towns in places like Texas are now starting to vote “the other way,” a reference to the June special election win of Republican Rep. Mayra Flores, the first Mexican-American member of Congress.

She ran on border security and flipped a Texas congressional seat that had been held by Democrats.