00:00Florida, Larry Keefe, as you've heard me say many times, 2024 election was a huge mandate from the American people to finally deal and put to bed the issue of illegal immigration once and for all.
00:15And part of that, of course, was the border security, but a lot of that was the reality that you had massive numbers of people that have come into this country illegally, and they needed to be repatriated to their home countries.
00:29And so we knew in Florida that this is something that was important to our state.
00:34We knew we had an opportunity to really make a difference.
00:37And so we decided to stand up.
00:39And that was nothing new for us.
00:40We were the first state to send people to help Texas when Biden opened the border back in 2021.
00:45I launched Operation Vigilant Century a couple years ago to help fill gaps in the maritime interdiction efforts of the Coast Guard that when illegals try to come in via the sea to the shores of Florida.
01:02And just from the state's effort, in addition to everything the Coast Guard's done, just the state of Florida, we've ended up stopping and returning 18,000 illegal aliens.
01:13And we just had a bus the other day.
01:16So that's been really important to keep the state of Florida safe.
01:20We've also done things like ban sanctuary cities.
01:23We've ensured that there are no ID cards.
01:25Of course, no driver's license, but any ID cards to illegals.
01:29We've increased penalties on illegals who operate motor vehicles.
01:34And so we're proud to have been a leader in that even before the Trump administration took in.
01:42But then when that happened, we sprung into action on our state agencies doing these 287G agreements with Department of Homeland Security.
01:52That basically allows us, at the state level, to be working in tandem on immigration enforcement.
02:00And that wasn't true under the Biden administration.
02:02I'd have Highway Patrol, they'd pull over illegal aliens, and then they'd have to call ICE, and ICE didn't want to deal with them.
02:10So they basically had to release them back into the community.
02:14And so now they have the ability to bring those folks and process them for immigration enforcement, which I think is something that's really, really important.
02:23We, of course, called for a special session of the Florida legislature at the beginning of the year, saying, hey, this is our moment.
02:29This is what we all campaigned on.
02:31Let's get it done.
02:32And, you know, we had some pushback on that initially.
02:36I think some of these guys, they didn't want to follow through on their campaign promises.
02:40They even sent me a bill that would have made things like Alligator Alcatraz and Operation Vigilance Century illegal in the state of Florida.
02:48Of course, I vetoed that.
02:50Blaise Angolia was in the Senate there, and he was very much standing on the side of the voters that sent us here.
02:55And he opposed that, you know, sanctuary bill.
02:58We ended up getting good legislation passed that requires all state and local agencies in Florida to participate in immigration enforcement efforts.
03:07And so that really began in earnest months ago, and it had a lot of success.
03:12But the one thing that we were running into was that DHS just did not have capacity to be able to hold and process these illegal aliens prior to deportation.
03:23We were using some of our sheriffs for using some of their local facilities.
03:28We would do what we could at the state level.
03:30But there was a huge need for additional capacity.
03:34And obviously, they had a rough four years under Biden really letting the agency wilt in ways that it was never intended to do.
03:42So we were asked, hey, if there's any way you can help with this, this is what you want to do.
03:46So the site here at the Dade Collier Airport in the heart of South Florida was a unique opportunity because while it was an existing footprint with a massive runway,
04:00it was something that was not necessarily full or being used all the time.
04:04And so we were able to, under Kevin Guthrie's leadership, within record time, create a facility that could support intaking, processing, and eventually deporting these illegal aliens.
04:20And that's important to deport from Florida, but obviously from the United States as well.
04:25So we have capacity now for a couple thousand.
04:29We can expand that as demand is there.
04:32And we're looking forward to being able to do that.
04:35I know that the administration has called on other states to follow suit and expand this type of capacity.
04:41And I would just reiterate that call.
04:43I think it's important.
04:44I think it'll make a difference.
04:45And so we're here today to say, you know, this was never intended to be something where people are just held and we just kind of twiddle our thumbs.
04:55The whole purpose is to make this be a place that can facilitate increased frequency and numbers of deportations of illegal aliens.
05:07And that is the goal.
05:09And one of the reasons why this was a sensible spot is because you have this runway that's right here.
05:15You don't have to drive them an hour to an airport.
05:17You go a couple thousand feet and they can be on a plane and out of here.
05:22So I'm pleased to report that those flights out of Alligator Alcatraz by DHS have begun.
05:31The cadence is increasing.
05:33We've already had a number of flights in the last few days.
05:38We've had hundreds of illegals have been removed from here.
05:44And, you know, the federal government has a process of how they eventually do.
05:48And they've done it different ways on some of these different flights.
05:50But the reality is, is this provides an ability to enhance the mission to increase the number and frequency of deportations.
06:00And so what's been done here has really been remarkable.
06:04There's full ground to air communications from the airfield.
06:08There's air tracking radar capabilities on site.
06:12Security, securing all access ports to the taxiway and runway on aircraft arrival.
06:16That happens.
06:18You got 5,000 gallons of jet fuel on site.
06:23You got runway lighting.
06:24You got everything you need to be able to do that.
06:27This airport is able to accept commercial-sized aircraft and conduct both day and nighttime operations.
06:37And so that's what it's all about, to be able to help process and remove folks that are legally in the state of Florida and in the United States of America.
06:49So we look forward to this cadence increasing.
06:52One of the things when the president came and visited that he approved was deputizing state officers, including National Guard judge advocates, to be immigration judges.
07:05And the vision is to just have them on site.
07:08You can move forward with the processing very quickly and increase the numbers.
07:13And the flow would be there'd be a high turnover rate here because you'd be constantly doing that.
07:18We're working very closely with the Department of Justice.
07:22We have not yet had any approval for anybody to be able to come down here and do that.
07:27But we do anticipate that happening very soon.
07:30And when that happens, you're going to have an availability of a lot of folks to be able to be ripe, to be able to be removed and ultimately sent back to their home countries.
07:42I've also pointed out we've been supportive of the efforts that if somebody is earmarked to come here and they would choose to simply voluntarily deport.
07:54Now, they're not just going to take your word for it.
07:56They're going to take you, chaperone you, make sure that you're on that aircraft and that you're landed in your own country.
08:02But there is resources available to do that.
08:05And I think that makes sense from a taxpayer perspective because it's cheaper to do it that way.
08:10It's also more efficient.
08:11So anybody that wants to take up on the offer can do it.
08:15We've had some people take up on the offer.
08:17And it's not just limited to Alligator Alcatraz.
08:20That's something that in any of these instances with immigration enforcement, that's a way to short circuit and ultimately get where we're trying to go anyway.
08:29So that is something that's a live possibility.
08:32And I hope more and more people avail themselves of that opportunity.
08:36I want to bring up folks here.
08:38I know Kevin Guthrie has done a lot of yeoman's work, both in setting up this facility, making sure it's being run professionally, but also debunking a lot of the nonsense that gets spewed out with some of the fake narratives that get put out.
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