Gov. DeSantis acknowledges it’s ‘not the norm’ for states to retrieve people from foreign countries

Gov. Ron DeSantis is continuing to address the state’s effort to bring people back from Haiti, which he says has led to 200 people returned to Florida at taxpayer expense.

He is also acknowledging an increased federal role and suggesting that Florida’s latest mission is closer to the end than the beginning, though there “probably are some more” flights headed to the state before the mission is ended.

“Now you have more State Department involvement in that and, which is really how it should be, right? I mean, it’s odd, it’s not the norm to have a state going into Israel … or going into Haiti (and bringing back) its citizens,” he said during a press conference in Miami.

“Usually that would be the U.S. government that would do that. But that necessarily wasn’t  what was happening, at least with the speed and user-friendliness that we had hoped would happen for our residents. And so we’ve stepped up and filled the void yet again.”

DeSantis added that “if there are going to be big State Department flights, that hopefully will take care of most of the remainder.”

The evacuees are just a fraction of the over 500 people who signed up on the state’s Division of Emergency Management assistance portal for Floridians and other Americans trapped in the Caribbean country.

Costs for this operation are undisclosed. These can add up, especially given a lack of oversight or need to cap expenses. The Israel evacuation flights last year cost Florida taxpayers $19 million, as the Tallahassee Democrat reported.

DeSantis said “Christian missionary groups” were among the priority rescues last month, and said that nonresidents could also be brought to Florida at taxpayer expense.