Ron DeSantis: Leftist Freak-Outs over Sending Illegals to Martha’s Vineyard Shows Their ‘Virtue-Signaling Is a Fraud’

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Thursday defended his administration’s action in sending dozens of illegal immigrants to Martha’s Vineyard, making it clear that Florida is not a sanctuary state and will continue to happily “help facilitate that transport” to sanctuary jurisdictions. Left-wing opposition to this, he added, shows that their “virtue-signaling is a fraud.” 

Speaking from Okaloosa County, DeSantis briefly discussed his administration’s decision to send dozens of illegal immigrants to the elite island. 

“We take what’s happening at the southern border very seriously, unlike some and unlike the President of the United States, who has refused to lift a finger to secure that border,” he said, detailing how millions of illegal immigrants have poured across the southern border, along with a record amount of fentanyl coming into the country.

“We’ve worked on innovative ways to be able to protect the state of Florida from the impact of Biden’s border policies,” he explained, citing operations in the Panhandle to stop human smugglers. But ultimately, DeSantis said they want to send a message to illegal immigrants that Florida is “not a sanctuary state, and it’s better to be able to go to a sanctuary jurisdiction.”

“And yes, we will help facilitate that transport for you to be able to go to greener pastures,” he said, noting that it was President Biden who started this fiasco by flying illegal immigrants in the dead of the night into states all across the country. 

“There was no warning on any of this. … And all those people in D.C. in New York were beating their chests when Trump was president, saying they were so proud of the sanctuary jurisdictions,” he said, noting that these same people suddenly “go berserk and they’re so upset that this is happening,” with Republican governors relocating illegal immigrants to their areas. 

“And it just shows you, you know, their virtue signaling is a fraud, ok?” he said to applause. “They are supporting policies that are just frankly indefensible. It is not defensible for a superpower to not have any control over the territory of its country, over the borders of its country.”

“He [Biden] reversed the Trump policies, knowing what would end up happening,” DeSantis continued, explaining that they are transporting illegals, in part, because it is expensive to support them. But further, DeSantis said “every community in America should be sharing in the burdens.”

“It shouldn’t all fall on a handful of red states, and so they’re now doing it. Now they have to decide, okay, this is a policy you supported — to have an open border. You don’t like it as much when you [get] just a small, small, small amount compared to what these folks have dealt with in Texas” and other states, he added. 

“So our message is, you know, we’re not a sanctuary state. We don’t have benefits or any of that. There are some sanctuary jurisdictions, and that would be better,” DeSantis said, adding that it would be “best” for Biden to “do his damn job and secure the border.”