DeSantis moves to stop Biden admin. from transporting illegal immigrants to Florida after alleged murder
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he's working with the state’s lawmakers to find a way to prevent the Biden administration from transporting illegal immigrants into Florida after a Honduran national, who entered the U.S. illegally claiming to be an unaccompanied minor, was charged with the murder of a Florida man who took him in.
“The Biden administration is flying in people who came illegally, dumping a lot in Jacksonville in the middle of the night. There was an individual who had posed as a 17 year old, actually was in the mid-20s, brought here, had been here, ended up committing a murder,” DeSantis said at a Saturday press conference, referring to Yery Noel Medina Ulloa’s arrest last month in Jacksonville and the murder of Francisco Javier Cuellar, a father-of-four who had taken him in.
“And so now this individual has been detained, should have never been in this country to begin with, and definitely should not have been dumped in the state of Florida,” continued DeSantis, a Republican. “And so these are middle-of-the-night flights, no notification to the state or anybody."
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Under Title 42 public health protections, the Biden administration has processed unaccompanied minors into the country and united them with sponsors instead of turning them away, The New York Post noted. The Post reported that Ulloa was placed in a shelter, given a Notice to Appear and released.
Ulloa, who turned 24 last month, had lied to border authorities in Texas several months earlier claiming he was a teenager named Reynel Alexander Hernandez, according to the Post. He was released after being given a “Notice to Appear,” officials say. Later, Cuellar took Ulloa to his Jacksonville home.
It’s not known how Ulloa reached Florida after being detained in Texas “or whether he was transported by way of the Biden administration’s secret flights to resettle underage immigrants, The Post revealed in an expose last month.
DeSantis said this is not how people are kept safe. “It’s reckless, and it’s wrong.”
The governor said he will ask the Florida Legislature “to see what can we do to make sure that they can’t just do this with impunity, because these are private contractors the federal government’s hiring, coming in. ... If you’re bringing in problems like that, then I think we have to reevaluate what you’re able to do business-wise in the state of Florida.”
He concluded, “We … have a pending lawsuit against the Biden administration challenging their catch and release policies. But this is what happens when you engage in reckless policies.”
