Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis took aim at President Biden’s floated idea to shuck out $450,000 in per-person cash settlements to illegal alien families separated at the border under Trump’s immigration policies, calling it a “slap in the face” to both Americans who’ve been decimated by COVID restrictions and legal immigrants who waited in line to come into the United States lawfully.
“Americans are getting more in their gas bills,” DeSantis said Tuesday. “They’re getting more in their grocery bills. You’ve had all kinds of really bad policies across our country that have been really bad for their freedom. And you’re gonna turn around after that and you’re gonna do $475,000 for an individual that came illegally to this country?”
“I've seen a lot in my day, I’ve been 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 this is done, that is going to be a slap in the face to every hard-working American who works hard and who plays by the rules. And it’ll especially be a slap in the face to people that have immigrated legally in this country.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis: "You're going to do $475,000 for an individual that came illegally to this country? I've seen a lot in my day, [...] 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 plays by the rules." pic.twitter.com/8Iw85y3AwK
— The Hill (@thehill) November 3, 2021
The White House's payout proposal comes amid a record-breaking surge of illegal immigration at the Southwest U.S. border, with more than 1.7 million illegal aliens crossing last fiscal year alone thanks to the Biden administration's open-border policies.