White House Flying Migrants Into Florida

The Biden administration quietly expanded a program to fly migrants into the United States, especially through the state of Florida, since last year. The data came after a record number of migrants entered the country illegally in 2023.

According to data from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the parole program that allows for Haitians, Nicaraguans, Venezuelans and Cubans to seek admission into the country allowed about 200,000 migrants into the country from January through August of last year.

This included the vast majority of them coming to Florida. More than 90,000 of the arrivals came to Miami, followed by more than 60,000 at Ft. Lauderdale with a distant third going to New York City with almost 15,000.

DeSantis’ office said that the program was “unlawful, and constitutes an abuse of constitutional authority. Florida is currently suing Biden to shut it down, and we believe that we will prevail.”

Last year saw the highest number of attempted migrant crossings into the United States in the nation’s history, at more than three million. This was the first time that the milestone had been crossed.

In addition, December 2023 also saw the highest monthly total, setting a new record at more than 300,000. Since President Joe Biden took office in 2021, an estimated seven million illegal immigrants are believed to have entered the country.

Much of the flow of migrants into states such as Texas and Florida has been met with a response. Both Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) have worked to send the migrants to other parts of the country, especially self-declared sanctuary states and cities.

DeSantis flew migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts two years ago. Abbott has sent busloads of migrants to various parts of the country, but especially to major cities such as New York and Chicago.

The increased flow of migrants has led some residents and politicians to change their tone on the topic of illegal immigration. New York alone has taken in almost 200,000 migrants in the last two years.