DeSantis vows to send illegal immigrants 'dumped' in Florida to Biden's home state of Delaware

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Biden facing pressure over lifting Title 42 border policy

Fox News congressional correspondent Chad Pergram has the latest as Senate Republicans call for an amendment on Title 42.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday that he will send illegal immigrants who are "dumped" into the Sunshine State to sanctuary states like President Biden's home state of Delaware, which he represented for more than 35 years in the U.S. Senate.

DeSantis' remarks came after he signed the No Patient Left Alone Act into law on Wednesday in Naples, Florida, and began discussing the Biden administration's termination of the Title 42 health policy, which gave the administration the ability to bar people from entering the country during a health crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida, speaks at CPAC in Orlando, Florida, U.S., on Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. (Tristan Wheelock/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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"What we're doing in Florida is saying, ‘We’re not gonna let the recklessness of those policies impact our state,'" DeSantis told those in attendance. "If businesses or contractors are dumping people who are illegal into Florida from southern Texas, you know, we're gonna go after their ability to do business in Florida.

"If Biden is dumping people, which he has dumped people, they fly them in at two in the morning," DeSantis continued. "They haven't done it lately, but they did it many months ago. We now have money where we can reroute them to sanctuary states like Delaware — and we're gonna do that — to make sure we're keeping people safe here."

This is not the first time DeSantis has mentioned sending illegal immigrants in Florida to Delaware. Last November, DeSantis said dozens of migrant flights landed in Florida at the behest of the Biden administration, and he threatened at that time to send them to Delaware on buses.

A Border Patrol agent apprehends illegal immigrants shortly after they crossed the border from Mexico into the United States on Monday, March 26, 2018 in the Rio Grande Valley Sector near McAllen, Texas.

"If they’re going to come here, we’ll provide buses," DeSantis said of the migrants on the flights. "I will send them to Delaware and do that."

"If he’s not going to support the border being secure, then he should be able to have everyone there," he added.

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The comments from the Sunshine State Republican on Wednesday came after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott vowed to send illegal immigrants released in his state to the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C.

The state, according to Abbott, will provide charter buses to drop off migrants — many released into small Texas communities that officials say are overwhelmed — in Washington.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott at a press conference at the Texas State Capitol in Austin on Monday, May 18, 2020. (Photo by Lynda M. Gonzalez-Pool/Getty Images)

"We are sending them to the United States Capitol where the Biden administration will be able to more immediately address the needs of the people that they are allowing to come across our border," Abbott said.

Fox News did not receive an immediate response from the White House.

Fox News' Louis Casiano and Adam Shaw contributed to this article.