Florida Gov. DeSantis Demands Biden Administration Stop Resettling Illegal Immigrants

US border agencies, overwhelmed by an immigration wave over the last few months, encountered some 212,000 migrants in July on the southern border, a notable increase compared with the estimated 78,000 encounters in January. Earlier, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that DC is carrying out a "secret" resettling of "illegal aliens" in the country.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, penned a letter to US President Joe Biden, asking him to stop releasing undocumented immigrants in the state and instead deport them or send them to other states that welcome what the Republican characterized as a "flouting of immigration laws."

According to the Saturday letter, the current administration is not taking action required to secure American migration laws and Florida residents from “the continued release of dangerous criminal aliens.”

"While Floridians are working to ensure that criminal aliens are not released back into our communities, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appears to be hard at work resettling ever larger numbers of illegal aliens who have no lawful status under federal immigration law from the southwest border to Florida," DeSantis wrote.

The GOP hardliner suggested that Florida residents support “responsible immigration,” but they "cannot abide the lawlessness,” at the southern border.

“Unfortunately, even though the federal government is responsible for immigration enforcement, it is the states who bear the brunt of this administration’s reckless immigration policies."

Under the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) policy, single adults and families are removed via Title 42 public health protections. Those Mexico will reject are released with either a notice to appear or a notice to report at an ICE office, according to Fox News.

Before their release, Border Patrol agents collect biometric and biographic information – fingerprints, photos, phone numbers, and an address in the United States – and run a background check to identify criminals or those who pose a public safety risk. Many released aliens report to ICE and those who fail to do so, “are subject to removal by ICE," officials said.

Migrants from Central America are detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents, in New Mexico

© REUTERS / Jose Luis Gonzalez

The current administration has come under fire as GOP lawmakers and other officials criticize the abolition of some strict Trump-era border policies.

Among other things, Biden suspended border wall construction and deportations, as well as the 'Remain in Mexico' program, also known as MMP, that forced asylum seekers, refugees and undocumented immigrants seeking to enter the country to wait in Mexico while their applications are under consideration in the US. Biden also reinstated the law that allows unaccompanied migrant children to enter the country, as well as restarting a so-called 'catch and release' policy.

Amid Biden’s more relaxed border policies, agencies have registered record-breaking numbers of persons attempting to enter the country illegally. The monthly influx over the summer months has soared, compared with the same period last year, increasing by approximately 80 percent, to 212,000 in July. The total number of migrant encounters this fiscal year is expected to be the highest since 2000, when US authorities recorded 1.7 million undocumented aliens, according to Reuters.

Former President Donald Trump speaks during a tour to an unfinished section of the border wall on June 30, 2021 in Pharr, Texas. Gov. Abbott has pledged to build a state-funded border wall between Texas and Mexico as a surge of mostly Central American immigrants crossing into the United States has challenged U.S. immigration agencies. So far in 2021, U.S. Border Patrol agents have apprehended more than 900,000 immigrants crossing into the United States on the southern border.

© AFP 2023 / BRANDON BELL

American border agencies have also faced difficulties with those migrants held at temporary detention facilities, which are said to be overwhelmed with both adults and minors. Some reports suggest that border authorities secretly release immigrants into the US.