The Florida House of Representatives passed legislation allowing the state to transport illegal immigrants regardless of where they were picked up.
SB-6B, which would establish an Unauthorized Alien Transportation Program, was approved by the Florida House on Friday.
According to Fox 10 Tampa, the program allows the state to transport illegal aliens who have been processed by federal authorities in any state.
The legislation would also appropriate ten million dollars for this purpose. Furthermore, the bill would allow the state government to hire contractors to assist in the transportation of illegal aliens.
The bill was approved by a vote of 77-34 in the House and 27-12 in the Senate, and it now heads to Gov. Ron Desantis' (R-FL) desk. He will most likely sign it into law.
According to Fox 13, the legislation is thought to have been designed to strengthen the governor's authority to continue his migrant relocation policy.
Notably, DeSantis ordered that a group of Venezuelan illegal immigrants who had arrived in Texas be transported to Martha's Vineyard in September.
According to an NBC/Telemundo poll conducted at the time, 52 percent of naturalized legal immigrants in Florida agreed with this move.
NBC News investigated the policy's political calculus:
…Conservative allies have pointed to the practice as a necessary tool to draw attention to the border crisis in the U.S. GOP state Rep. John Snyder also argued during floor debate on Thursday that the program was “humanitarian” because it offered a “free, chartered flight” for migrants who want to move elsewhere in the country.
DeSantis explained the program's rationale in his own words at a press conference on February 1.
“I think people are sick of having an open border with no rule of law in this country,” WFSU quoted him as saying.
“We can just sit here and do nothing about it or we can actually stand up and say whatever tools we have at our disposal, we are going to use.”