Gov. DeSantis credits immigration crackdown with improving traffic flow

Gov. Ron DeSantis says drivers aren’t imagining fewer traffic jams on the state’s highways and byways in recent days.

He credits the phenomenon with state policy discouraging undocumented immigrants from driving recklessly, noting that someone who approached him in a Tampa Wawa this week tipped him off.

“‘Since you guys (started) all the law enforcement … on the immigration, the traffic has gone down because you’d have people here illegally. It’s like they own the place. Really bad driving, very aggressive,'” DeSantis recalled the person saying.

“And now that’s stopping because they know if they get pulled over, if one of (Florida Highway Patrol head Dave Kerner‘s) guys pulls them over and they’re deputized by ICE, then they can turn them over to federal immigration authorities,” DeSantis added while speaking Thursday at Miami’s Z Hotel.

Last month, the state of Florida agreed with the Department of Homeland Security to allow Highway Patrol men and women to help with immigration enforcement. However, these comments were the first suggestion from DeSantis that undocumented immigrants were a major cause of traffic snarls.

DeSantis’ comments on immigration enforcement leading to improved driving conditions follow up on recent observations about legal resident Floridians’ bad driving abilities. DeSantis said poor skills on the road are driving up insurance premiums, even as some companies have lowered rates year over year.

“We have challenges with how the culture of driving is. I was telling people when we had the snowstorm. Now, North Florida may be a little bit better than South Florida for driving, but I was afraid everyone’s going to be peeling out on this ice and stuff. And we were plowing it. And I think it ended up working out okay. But you have that situation,” DeSantis said Tuesday.