Florida sues Biden administration over border policies
Updated: 2:14 PM EDT Sep 29, 2021
morning slash afternoon. I want to thank Sheriff Marciano for hosting us here to lee county Sheriff's office. Also want to thank representatives roach and persons malika from being here. We also have the state attorney uh Fox here, Thank you so much. And we have the Attorney General Ashley moody here. Um and uh also gonna introduce larry keith here in a minute. Uh if you look at what's going on at the southern border, uh it is a total disaster and it's a disaster that has been created by disastrous policy choices by president joe biden since taking office in january by it and terminated the remain in Mexico program, Which required those claiming asylum to wait in Mexico until their asylum claims can be processed and verified. And let's just be clear, 99% of these are not valid asylum claims. Uh this is being used as a way to to gain access to the interior of our country. Biden is also re instituted a catch and release policy allowing illegal aliens apprehended at the border to simply just be released into american communities. Biden also ended construction of the effective border wall biden refused to detain and remove certain criminal aliens prior to biden taking office. If we had somebody that was convicted of a crime here illegally served a sentence, the trump administration would take them and then they would be returned to their home country. Not so with biden in office, biden's also failed to aggressively exercise his administration's public health authority to expel inadmissible aliens due to the pandemic. Um The reversal and weakening of our policies have amounted to uh an open invitation for folks all across the world to just simply come through the southern border illegally And basically get a ticket to ride to the interior of the country. Uh and the numbers speak for themselves. The number encounters at the southwest border has skyrocketed from 78,000 in January to over 210,000 in July. That's 171% increase. That's the highest monthly total and more than 20 years. And there's no sign of its slowing down. You have another 208,000 in August uh and that was again close to another record. Um additionally, the number of illegal aliens who were issued a notice to appear in court and subsequently released by the border patrol, which means they're not going to actually appear In July alone was a staggering 60 607. By contrast, during the last full month of the Trump administration, only 17 individuals in this category were released. So this is absolutely a crisis. It's a crisis of the administration's own making. Um and yes, this is their primary responsibility, the federal government, but the states, we are the ones that are affected by this. Uh and we have to be able to uh to to fight back. Now a couple months ago, the state of texas asked other states to provide mutual aid florida did that. We deployed over 250 state law enforcement officers over a period of about 6 to 8 weeks to help combat the smuggling of people and drugs across the border. While our folks were there, they were actually in the Del Rio sector, wasn't quite as bad as you've seen in the last week or so, but they did 9171 individual contacts of people coming across the border illegally. They made 311 felony arrest, 79 human smuggling cases, 16 stolen vehicle cases, 43 narcotics cases and four actual drug seizures. Uh, and so then then that's just our florida footprint there in that part. And um, I actually went to the border, was able to see firsthand what was going on. I spoke with our folks and all our folks volunteered because they understood the mission is important. But what they were saying is a lot of these folks that were interacting with, you know, most of these people are not just coming, you know, they're not mexicans there from over 100 different countries. They're coming from africa, from Asia, from the Middle East, from south America, from the Caribbean, you name it. And basically they're being told effectively this is the way to do it. I don't know how people feel are actually going through our legal immigration system feel about this. They're certainly not being, uh, there's certainly been given the short end of the stick. Um, but it's very clear that open borders is the biden administration policy, you know, they want a massive illegal migration, uh, into this country. And it's obvious in the policies that, that they're choosing. The frustrating thing about this from a state perspective is they are farming out people all across communities across the United States, including here in florida. Yet they don't ever tell us what they're doing. The administration won't tell Flora florida how many people coming across the border illegally have been resettled in florida. Uh, they don't talk about the destination of the people that are being resettled in florida. Uh, and they don't tell talk about the number who have been resettled in florida, who have been, uh, covid positive. Uh, they don't tell us a lot of stuff. They don't say whether they have a criminal record. They don't say whether they've failed to appear for the removal proceedings. And we're entitled to know, given that we bear the cost of most of this with our services, our criminal justice system, our education system, we're entitled to know what's going on here. And so the absence of transparency in particular is just quite frankly, unacceptable. Um, and we've seen the federal government take people coming across the border illegally flying them to airports around the country, including right here at Southwest florida International airport. They basically are given a notice appear and then they're sent on their way to think about that though, if you're given a notice to appear and you're told, hey, call this number to schedule, schedule of proceeding at your convenience, how many people are actually going to follow through on that? That's not the way they do it here. I mean, if if they arrest somebody, they don't just give them the option to schedule their own trial. They actually hold them accountable. So a lot of this is just a complete and utter farce. If you're really serious about adjudicating those claims, you wouldn't be farming people out all across the United States. Um, the end of the day that affects people here. It will affect people, uh, medical services. It will affect other types of social services. It will affect education. Uh, so this continued release of folks on a very mass scale and unprecedented scale, um, will saddle states and local governments with health, financial, economic and public safety costs. There's just no doubt about it. That's why at the end of august I wrote a letter to the DHS Secretary Mayorkas demanding that the biden administration cease using florida to resettle folks from the southwest border. And I asked that, uh, the prior policies be reinstituted such as remain in Mexico. And I'm under no illusion that they're going to change course. I think this is intentional. I think this is ideological. I also requested DHS provide information regarding the number identities, destinations, criminal record, Covid testing status of all the illegal aliens that had resettled in florida and that moving forward that they actually provide florida notice when they are affirmatively doing this. And of course, not surprisingly, we've not heard a peep from the biden administration concerning our request and they continue to leave us in the dark, but we are undeterred and I'm pleased to be here today. Attorney general moody to announce three significant actions we are taking to address the biden border crisis. First, the state of florida is suing the biden administration over its unlawful and destructive catch and release policy. Thanks to Attorney General for leading that effort. And she'll have more to say about that when she makes her remarks. Second, I'm signing an executive order to prohibit state agencies that report, excuse me to prohibit state agencies that report to me from aiding or abetting in any way what the federal government is doing right now. We're not going to be a party to this lawlessness. We haven't, to my knowledge, but we're letting the marker down know that this is an absolute red line. We're not gonna do it uh, in the order prohibits our agencies from providing assistance to the feds or any other entity for the transportation of folks who are here illegally into florida from the southwest border. It also directs the florida Department of Children and families determine whether florida should continue to grant licenses for facilities that house, unaccompanied alien minors brought into the state from the southwest border granting licenses to house uh illegal alien Children who do not reside in florida takes resources away for child welfare from Children who do reside here. This is a problem we have to address and we have to put florida Children first. The order also requests that the commissioner of F. D. L. E. Conduct regular audits of companies doing business in florida, particularly publicly traded corporations and other large companies to verify that they are only employing lawful individuals. Additionally, the order request state agencies to collect and provide information concerning the impact of illegal immigration in florida. We want information on the number and identities of everyone that's been resettled from the Southwest border uh to florida, we also encourage both F. D. L. E. And florida Highway patrol uh to detain vehicles such as buses or aircraft if their transport transporting illegal aliens from the Southwest border, if there's reasonable suspicion that the vehicles being used for human trafficking or drug trafficking. Unfortunately, that is an all too common occurrence when you talk about what's going on here. The order also requests information from state officials on the number who are pending criminal prosecution in florida and the number who have been convicted, including the crimes convicted. The amount of funds expended on health care for uh illegal aliens and the amount of funds spent on social services. Uh Finally, I'm proud to announce that I'm appointing Larry keith, the former U. S. Attorney for the Northern district of florida to serve as our public safety czar and as public safety czar. Larry will ensure that the actions directed by this executive order as well as many other things are carried out and I'm very honored and happy to have him on my team. So we are in a situation where we have a disaster on the southern border that's been apparent for many, many months. We would like to see the prior policies reinstituted. We're under no illusion that that's gonna happen. So we've got to take every effort we can to make sure that we're protecting the people of florida. Uh and that's what we're doing here today. So I want to let Attorney General moody come up and say a few words and and governor, thank you so much for your leadership, your partnership on these issues. Uh it really helps to have a governor that was a former federal prosecutor that is the congressman, stood up for a true separation of powers and understanding why certain branches of government are given certain authorities and why that is fundamental to the security and stability of a successful free nation and state. And you can see that leadership since he's taken office. I don't care if it is extreme incompetence if it is radical liberal policy agenda. No one let me repeat that no one is above the law. We are seeing dramatic effects at our border. It is an unmitigated crisis based on this president's refusal to follow Federal law is in black and white folks and it's not a president's responsibility to decide whether he agrees with the law. In fact, the head of an executive branch must follow the law. And as we saw, the numbers rapidly increased from the time our last president was in office trump and his last fall Month, full month, 17 people were released into the interior with improper procedure. Last month alone, 60,000 people were released into the interior with no regard for the process that's required by federal law. And after the our governor requested details, I've never seen a leader so focused on details of what's going on in his state. What the effects of disastrous leadership nationally. How it will affect our state in terms of the cost to our taxpayers, in terms of the social consequences, our criminal justice system, understand that florida will pay over $100 million in incarcerating folks here illegally that are committing crimes in florida. Over $100 million dollars are pleased to this President have gone with no response. You heard from the governor? He demanded what was going on? Who are you releasing? What are their criminal backgrounds? Who's being resettled in our state So that we know its effects on our state so that we can lead effectively with due regard for the safety and stability of our communities. Hearing nothing from the biden administration. We have had to take action and today I filed suit against the biden administration for failing to follow federal law. We know that we have seen increasing amounts of drugs flowing over our border, specifically fentaNYL enough fit in all to kill our United States population. Four times over We saw 3,000% increase at one time and sexual offenders being detained at the border. It is clear that at this point this administration, President biden is aiding and abetting criminal cartels. Their criminal activity is only spiraling out of control because we are not following law and processing folks collecting the necessary details needed to collect and detaining them according to federal law before releasing them in due process. Criminal cartels are having a field day. I can assure you their profits are skyrocketing. We brought suit today we will pursue this aggressively and I am proud to say that Governor de Santis and I, as long as we in office will not stop in pursuing the interests of our state and the safety of the american people. Thank you very much. Great thanks Attorney General and uh you know Attorney General for the first two years of her term worked with Larry keith when he was U. S. Attorney for the northern district of florida under the in the trump administration. Larry is now as I mentioned working and my administration as our public safety czar. Someone let Larry come up and say a few words, Yeah, thank you. Governor to santa's for protecting florida and for appointing me to lead this initiative to protect our state from the illegal immigration crisis that President biden has created at our border. I promise you if there are people illegally in our state and if they're in violation of our law, we are going to enforce our law. As a former United States attorney working in the United States Department of Justice. We saw illegal aliens repeatedly re enter our country. They were deported and came back, then got deported again and then came back again. In a continuing cycle of criminal lawlessness. We saw this illegal immigration associated with violent crime, Mexican cartels, gangs, drugs, human trafficking by cracking down on illegal immigration. We will be cracking down on these violent crimes. Some of the impacts of illegal immigration are less visible, but they have great hidden costs like the taxpayer dollars that disappear, paying for support services for people who are here illegally. We will use every bit of the authority that we have to protect Floridians and protect their taxpayer dollars that are now being spent to provide services to those who are here illegally. When I was the United States Attorney, I prosecuted illegal entry cases in north florida. I am now honored to be able to team with our state and local law enforcement partners to protect the entire state of florida from illegal immigration. Our elected sheriffs and local police see most and know best. The lawlessness and criminal chaos that is associated with their legal immigration on the streets of florida's communities. They are are critical partners in this fight. We honor them. We respect them and we need them and we will use every bit of the authority to support them when they are attacked. And they will be attacked simply for doing their duty. Attorney general. Ashley, moody. The statewide prosecutor in the florida Department of Law enforcement will also partner with us in this fight. Our state agencies will partner with us as well and they will be analyzing and assessing the impacts that illegal immigration have on our state governor. We are your team and we thank you for taking this bold action to protect Floridians. I am committed to getting to work with our partners to protect and secure our state. Thank you, Mr. Sheriff. Thank you Governor. Uh, I'll be brief, but I want to say a few things first and foremost. Uh, you know, there are two reasons why people from all over the country come here. And it's not just sunshine. It's because we have law and order in this state. But the other two reasons is because we have an amazing governor who stands up no matter what the causes for what's right. And we have an outstanding attorney general and both of them give us the tools to do our job every single day in lee county and in this state. You champion for law enforcement. Everything that you have done for us every single day. We're able to go out there and makes certain that our residents are safe with law and order and that criminals go to jail so that the rest of America can enjoy life governor. Thank you so much for your time, Attorney general. Uh, we are one cohesive team and we're gonna make certain that we deliver on our end. I promise you that. So thank you. Okay. So I think this may be morning think this is the executive order. And so we've signed the direction is out for those folks. The lawsuit is that dropped yet. It's drop lawsuits official and that's in the Northern district of florida. Uh, so, so stay tuned for that. And uh, you know, we're just gonna, we're going to keep fighting because I think it's very, very important. And I think that there's um, you know, certain things just just happened. There can be natural disasters. There can be stuff sometimes financial mark, there's all kind of things. Um, and you've got to deal with those obviously, but there's certain things when you're creating like the federal government is doing, you're creating this crisis, uh, it's just wrong and it's wrong that they're not providing us information. It's wrong that they're not following the law and it's wrong that they're going to be imposing a lot of costs and a lot of burdens on state and local communities all throughout the United States. So this is another example of us fighting back, You know, we do have a case pending on the release of criminal aliens because that's something that's very dangerous for our communities. We think we're going to have good success there. Obviously the administration lost the case about the remain in Mexico. So we don't know that they're going to follow because they do what they want, but they should follow that and re institute that policy. So we're, we're proud to stand up today. We wish we didn't have to do it. But when we're called we will okay, we could all take some questions. Governor, every administration has dealt with ebbs and flows of people crossing the border illegally. What proof is there that we have crime going on here? And you mentioned our s w people flying in there. What do you know about that? People there was, it was actually, there was was on video member. They literally will give people cards saying, you know, like signs like, hey, I don't speak english, helped me all this stuff and that's just what they're doing. Just kind of throwing them, throw them in different communities. And I know there was, uh, we've seen some social at the hospital. Uh, this is not just an ebb and flow though. This is absolutely created because of the change in policy when our guys were over there. Uh, in the southwest border. These folks would tell them we would never have come prior to biden like Biden telling us.
Florida sues Biden administration over border policies
Updated: 2:14 PM EDT Sep 29, 2021
On Tuesday, the state of Florida sued the Biden administration over its border policies.Florida Attorney General Ashley Mood filed the suit. It alleges that the Biden administration's catch-and-release policy is "illegal" and either a violation of federal immigration law or an abuse of authority.The lawsuit also alleges that the policy hurts Florida because those released will arrive in Florida, harming the state and forcing it to "incur millions of dollars in expenses."During a news conference on Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis discussed the situation at the border. He cited numerous arrests made by Florida law enforcement officers who were sent to assist officers at the border, and he talked about his visit there as well."I was able to see firsthand what was going on," DeSantis said. "It's very clear that open borders is the Biden Administration policy."Referring to the Biden administration, DeSantis said, "They want a massive illegal migration into this country."He said people entering the United States illegally are being transported to communities across the United States, including Florida.The more than 200,000 encounters tallied along the Mexican border in August was four times more than in the same month a year ago.DeSantis said it is unknown whether the people entering the United States illegally have criminal records."We bear the cost of most of this," DeSantis said. He went on to say, "we're entitled to know what's going on."Attorney General Ashley Moody then spoke, talking about Florida suing the Biden administration."Criminal cartels are having a field day. I can assure you, their profits are skyrocketing," Moody said, in part, regarding activity at the border."Had the government — the federal government — just done its job, this would not have happened. They would not have been in that situation," DeSantis said.The governor also signed an executive order titled the "Biden Border Crisis" which bars all state agencies from aiding illegal immigration.He also hired former U.S. Attorney Larry Keefe, who resigned after President Joe Biden took office as the state's public safety czar to oversee immigration security."I would encourage the governor to focus on what is really affecting us right now," Democratic local Congressman Darren Soto said. "The governor, who visited the Texas-Mexico border in July, should be focusing on fighting the spread of COVID-19, and protecting the health of people in Florida."U.S. Rep. Darren Soto agreed, stating: "Governor DeSantis's attention would be better placed, back in our own state rather than a thousand miles away at the U.S. southern border."The attorney general previously filed a lawsuit to try and force the federal government to stop releasing what the state called "criminal aliens." That case is pending.
On Tuesday, the state of Florida sued the Biden administration over its border policies.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Mood filed the suit. It alleges that the Biden administration's catch-and-release policy is "illegal" and either a violation of federal immigration law or an abuse of authority.
The lawsuit also alleges that the policy hurts Florida because those released will arrive in Florida, harming the state and forcing it to "incur millions of dollars in expenses."
During a news conference on Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis discussed the situation at the border. He cited numerous arrests made by Florida law enforcement officers who were sent to assist officers at the border, and he talked about his visit there as well.
"I was able to see firsthand what was going on," DeSantis said. "It's very clear that open borders is the Biden Administration policy."
Referring to the Biden administration, DeSantis said, "They want a massive illegal migration into this country."
He said people entering the United States illegally are being transported to communities across the United States, including Florida.
The more than 200,000 encounters tallied along the Mexican border in August was four times more than in the same month a year ago.
DeSantis said it is unknown whether the people entering the United States illegally have criminal records.
"We bear the cost of most of this," DeSantis said. He went on to say, "we're entitled to know what's going on."
Attorney General Ashley Moody then spoke, talking about Florida suing the Biden administration.
"Criminal cartels are having a field day. I can assure you, their profits are skyrocketing," Moody said, in part, regarding activity at the border.
"Had the government — the federal government — just done its job, this would not have happened. They would not have been in that situation," DeSantis said.
The governor also signed an executive order titled the "Biden Border Crisis" which bars all state agencies from aiding illegal immigration.
He also hired former U.S. Attorney Larry Keefe, who resigned after President Joe Biden took office as the state's public safety czar to oversee immigration security.
"I would encourage the governor to focus on what is really affecting us right now," Democratic local Congressman Darren Soto said. "The governor, who visited the Texas-Mexico border in July, should be focusing on fighting the spread of COVID-19, and protecting the health of people in Florida."
U.S. Rep. Darren Soto agreed, stating: "Governor DeSantis's attention would be better placed, back in our own state rather than a thousand miles away at the U.S. southern border."
The attorney general previously filed a lawsuit to try and force the federal government to stop releasing what the state called "criminal aliens." That case is pending.
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