DeSantis slams Biden over proposed $450K payments to illegal immigrants [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ripped Pres. Joe Biden after reports surface that the administration is considering paying illegal immigrants $450,000.
• The total payout for immigrants who were separated from their families under the Trump administration could reach over $1 billion.
• DeSantis said the plan is a “slap in the face to every hard-working American.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ripped Pres. Joe Biden Biden over reports that it is proposing $450,000 payments to illegal immigrants who were separated from their families at the border under the Trump administration.

DeSantis is “very concerned” about the potential payments as millions of Americans struggle with rising energy and grocery costs.

“You’ve had all kinds of really bad policies throughout our country that has limited freedom,” the governor said Friday. “And you’re going to turn around for that and you’re going to do $475,000 for an individual that came illegally to this country?”

“I’ve seen a lot in my day — I’ve seen a lot that’s happened over the last nine or ten months that I didn’t think I’d ever see — but this takes the cake,” he continued. “If that is done, that is going to be a slap in the face to every American who works hard and plays by the rules.”

He added that it will also be “a slap in the face to people that have immigrated legally to this country. DeSantis said Florida will fight back against it.

If carried out, the total payout to migrants would likely exceed the payments made to some families of 9/11 victims and Gold Star families. 

Critics quickly noted that it would be more than payments received by the families of those who lost loved ones in military service. The death gratuity is a single, tax-free payment of $100,000.

There is a life insurance program, the Servicemember Group Life Insurance (SGLI), but that maxes out at $400,000 and requires service members to have paid into it.

In a statement, advocates for 9/11 victims and their families said that the news was a “shock” to them given they are trying to persuade Congress and the administration to fund payments for those who they say were wrongfully kept from compensation.

Republicans have slammed the Biden administration since reports of the potential payments first surfaced. 

Forty-five House Republicans signed a letter led by North Carolina Rep. Greg Murphy demanding answers on the reported payments.

“Promising tens of thousands of dollars to those who unlawfully entered the United States would not only reward criminal behavior, but it would surely send a message to the world that our borders are open and our rule of law will not be enforced,” the letter warned.

Source: Fox News