Florida Governor Ron DeSantis slammed President Joe Biden on Monday over a report published last week that said that Biden was considering paying illegal aliens who were separated at the border from their families under the previous administration up to $450,000 each.
“The U.S. Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Health and Human Services are considering payments that could amount to close to $1 million a family, though the final numbers could shift,” The Wall Street Journal reported. “Most of the families that crossed the border illegally from Mexico to seek asylum in the U.S. included one parent and one child.”
According to the WSJ, the talks come “as several agencies work to resolve lawsuits filed on behalf of parents and children who say the government subjected them to lasting psychological trauma.”
DeSantis responded to the report during a press conference on Monday, saying that he was “very, very concerned” about news.
“I mean, you think about it, Americans are getting more in their gas bills, they’re getting more in their grocery bills. You’ve had all kinds of really bad policies throughout our country, that has limited freedom. And you’re going to turn around for that, and you’re going to do $475,000 for an individual that came illegally to this country? I’ve seen a lot in my day. I’ve seen a lot that’s happened over the last nine or 10 months that I didn’t think I’d ever see, but this takes the cake,” DeSantis said. “If that is done, that is going to be a slap in the face to every hard working American who works hard and plays by the rules and it will especially being a slap in the face to people that have immigrated legally to this country. That should not be allowed to stand. It’s wrong. And whatever we can do in Florida to fight back against it, we will do.”
President Biden claimed the report was untrue when pressed on the issue during a press conference on November 3.
WATCH:
Paying illegal immigrants hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars for "damages" is a slap in the face to hardworking Americans and individuals who legally immigrated to our country. pic.twitter.com/GxusWKLL6c
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) November 1, 2021
TRANSCRIPT:
RON DESANTIS, FLORIDA GOVERNOR: I’m very, very concerned about reports, I think it was in The Wall Street Journal, that the Biden administration is going to pay with tax dollars, hundreds of millions of dollars to people who came to our country illegally across the southern border as quote, ‘damages.’ I mean, you think about it, Americans are getting more in their gas bills, they’re getting more in their grocery bills. You’ve had all kinds of really bad policies throughout our country, that has limited freedom. And you’re going to turn around for that, and you’re going to do $475,000 for an individual that came illegally to this country? I’ve seen a lot in my day. I’ve seen a lot that’s happened over the last nine or 10 months that I didn’t think I’d ever see, but this takes the cake. If that is done, that is going to be a slap in the face to every hard working American who works hard and plays by the rules and it will especially being a slap in the face to people that have immigrated legally to this country. That should not be allowed to stand. It’s wrong. And whatever we can do in Florida to fight back against it, we will do.
This article has been expanded after publication to include additional information.