Home News Feds Downplay Plans To Move Migrant Families As Florida Leaders Protest ‘Dumping’

Feds Downplay Plans To Move Migrant Families As Florida Leaders Protest ‘Dumping’

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Frame Grab fFrom Reuters Video

Officials at Customs and Border Protection say they have no immediate plans to transport hundreds of detained asylum-seeking migrants to two counties in southern Florida.

The news of plans to send migrants detained at the southern border to Broward and Palm Beach counties first surfaced on Thursday. Local officials said they were told by federal immigration authorities to expect as many as 500 migrants in each county every month.

Blindsided by the news, Florida officials, Republican and Democrat alike, said their state was ill-prepared for such an influx.

“We cannot accommodate in Florida the dumping of unlawful migrants into our state,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a press conference Friday. “I think it will tax our resources, our schools, the healthcare, law enforcement, state agencies.”

DeSantis, a Republican, and strong supporter of President Trump, said he would take his concerns to the White House.

There was little word about the plan from the administration until late Friday.

A CBP official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told NPR that the agency is not “transporting any family units to Florida at this time,” however it is looking at possibly housing and processing migrants at other U.S. Border Patrol sectors across the nation.

[vc_btn title=”Continue reading” color=”primary” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.npr.org%2F2019%2F05%2F17%2F724188757%2Fadministration-to-release-hundreds-of-migrants-to-south-florida-local-officials-||target:%20_blank|”][vc_message message_box_style=”3d” message_box_color=”blue”]NPRexcerpt posted on SouthFloridaReporter.com, May 19, 2019

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