Ron DeSantis tightens undocumented immigration laws as Title 42 ends

Reporter: Tiffany Rizzo Writer: Joey Pellegrino
Published: Updated:

Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to drop hints at a presidential run as he moves to continue his controversial program of sending migrants from Florida to other states.

The law he just signed cracks down on undocumented immigrants. On Thursday, the pandemic-era policy known as Title 42 expires. It gave border officials the wide-ranging authority to quickly send immigrants back to Mexico, supposedly as a health measure.

Lines of people along the border seeking asylum (which is legal) grew this week. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has put in place new rules aimed at curbing the numbers. Migrants are now required to prove they’ve applied for asylum online or through another country first.

DeSantis’ new law gives $12 million for his migrant relocation initiative, creates stricter laws for undocumented immigrants in Florida, demands that businesses with more than 25 staffers use E-Verify (a federal system that determines if employees can legally work in the U.S.) and toughens criminal penalties for those who transport undocumented workers into Florida.

“In Florida, you know, one business is to hire citizens and illegal immigrants, but we want them to follow the law and not do illegal immigrants, and that’s not that difficult to do,” DeSantis said. “And once we get that kind of as a norm in our society, I think we’re going to be a lot better off. So, this is another great victory for this most recent legislative session.”

DeSantis says his law will be a sufficient response to an ongoing crisis at the border.

“I do think that with the border that big, you need a physical wall,” DeSantis said. “You can’t just do it with personnel surveilling; there’s too many gaps. So you do that wall, construct that wall, then that’ll make it more easy for you to follow the pressure points and repel people from back there, and I have offered Biden help.”

It was been widely expected that DeSantis would make a decision about running for president in 2024 once the legislative session ended, but it has been nearly a week since the session wrapped up.

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