Gov. DeSantis ready to ‘get in the game’ of migrant transfers to GITMO
Ron DeSantis remains at odds with the Legislature over the 'TRUMP Act,' particularly concerning enforcement and leadership of state immigration policy.

DeSantis
President Trump has ordered the Cuba-based detention center to be prepped for full capacity as part of his deportation push.

Saying Guantánamo Bay is a “hell of a lot closer” to Florida than Martha’s Vineyard, Ron DeSantis reiterated interest in sending migrants there in accordance with a Donald Trump executive order.

“I think it’d be a great place, quite frankly, to have criminal aliens,” DeSantis said Friday in Destin, adding that Florida is “going to be able to assist” moving undocumented immigrants to the base in Cuba.

The Governor has made this case all week that the state is a logical launching pad for deportations.

DeSantis posted to social media Wednesday that he’s “happy to send flights from Florida down that way with deportees in tow,” in the wake of Trump saying he’s telling the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security to “begin preparing the 30,000 person migrant facility at Guantánamo Bay” for an influx of undocumented immigrants.

“What better state to take advantage of that than the state of Florida,” he told podcaster Dave Rubin Tuesday.

DeSantis also said this week “deputized” state forces who can “make the same decisions” as Immigration and Customs Enforcement or the Border Patrol could also “take them back to Haiti or the Bahamas or wherever they are coming from, right on the spot” if they “intercept them on the sea.”

The Trump Executive Order calls “to expand the Migrant Operations Center at Naval Station Guantánamo Bay to full capacity to provide additional detention space for high-priority criminal aliens unlawfully present in the United States, and to address attendant immigration enforcement needs … in order to halt the border invasion, dismantle criminal cartels, and restore national sovereignty.”

It does not contemplate a state role in extradition or extraterritorial transport.

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. His work also can be seen in the Washington Post, the New York Post, the Washington Times, and National Review, among other publications. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


3 comments

  • EARL PITTS AMERICAN

    January 31, 2025 at 1:15 pm

    Good afternoon, Florida,
    Thankfully this Gitmo option came along so we can save the political carrers of Senate President Ben and Speaker Dan. At this time due to them turning into annoying RINO’s their political careers are in the crapper.
    HOWEVER:
    By Depuitizing Ben & Dan they will have the chance to redeem themselves by serving in Gitmo as jailers for the next 6 to 8 years and rehabilatate their political careers.
    All things work together for good, thank you Ben & Dan, and thank you, Florida Voters,
    EARL PITTS AMERICAN

  • MH/Duuuval

    January 31, 2025 at 2:03 pm

    If I were a hungry Cuban or Haitian, I’d head on over to Gitmo for some R&R.

    • MH/Duuuval

      January 31, 2025 at 9:40 pm

      Can Dee work a grill? If so, he might do some good in Gitmo.

Comments are closed.


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