MIAMI, Florida – In a decisive move to bolster state security, Governor Ron DeSantis held a press conference yesterday at the Brigade 2506 Museum & Library (Bay of Pigs Museum) in Miami. The Governor officially signed HB 905, also known as the Foreign Interference Restriction and Enforcement (FIRE) Act.
Key Provisions of the FIRE Act
The legislation is designed to curtail the influence of "countries of concern"—including China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, and Syria—within the state of Florida.
Ban on Foreign Surrogacy Contracts: In one of the bill's most discussed measures, the law voids and prohibits surrogacy agreements if any party involved is a citizen or resident of a country of concern. The Governor described this as a necessary step to end "birth tourism," which he characterized as a "shady" practice posing significant security risks.
State Terrorist List: HB 905 authorizes Florida to establish its own registry of domestic and international terrorist organizations. The law strictly prohibits state funding to, or the acceptance of funds from, any entity on this list.
Stricter Ethics and Gift Rules: Florida public officials and employees are now barred from accepting gifts from entities representing hostile foreign nations. Violators will face penalties including restitution of double the gift's value.
A Message for "Libre Cuba": By choosing the Bay of Pigs Museum as the signing location, DeSantis reaffirmed Florida's support for a free Cuba, stating, "The time has come for the Cuban communist regime to be a thing of the past."
Key Quote
"China is sending people here to have babies to get citizenship—that is a real security issue. Florida will not allow adversaries to infiltrate our political system, our economy, or our educational institutions. Our officials must serve the people of Florida, not foreign enemies." — Governor Ron DeSantis.
Education Bills in Fort Myers
Prior to his arrival in Miami yesterday, the Governor also made a stop at Fort Myers High School. There, he signed a series of education-focused bills aimed at maintaining Florida's status as the "Education State," including new measures to support teacher salaries.
Effective Date: The FIRE Act (HB 905) is scheduled to officially take effect on July 1, 2026.
For the full video replay of the Miami press conference, please visit the official Florida Governor’s website or local news streaming platforms.
#RonDeSantis #MiamiNews #FIREAct #HB905 #FloridaSecurity #BreakingNews
Key Provisions of the FIRE Act
The legislation is designed to curtail the influence of "countries of concern"—including China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, and Syria—within the state of Florida.
Ban on Foreign Surrogacy Contracts: In one of the bill's most discussed measures, the law voids and prohibits surrogacy agreements if any party involved is a citizen or resident of a country of concern. The Governor described this as a necessary step to end "birth tourism," which he characterized as a "shady" practice posing significant security risks.
State Terrorist List: HB 905 authorizes Florida to establish its own registry of domestic and international terrorist organizations. The law strictly prohibits state funding to, or the acceptance of funds from, any entity on this list.
Stricter Ethics and Gift Rules: Florida public officials and employees are now barred from accepting gifts from entities representing hostile foreign nations. Violators will face penalties including restitution of double the gift's value.
A Message for "Libre Cuba": By choosing the Bay of Pigs Museum as the signing location, DeSantis reaffirmed Florida's support for a free Cuba, stating, "The time has come for the Cuban communist regime to be a thing of the past."
Key Quote
"China is sending people here to have babies to get citizenship—that is a real security issue. Florida will not allow adversaries to infiltrate our political system, our economy, or our educational institutions. Our officials must serve the people of Florida, not foreign enemies." — Governor Ron DeSantis.
Education Bills in Fort Myers
Prior to his arrival in Miami yesterday, the Governor also made a stop at Fort Myers High School. There, he signed a series of education-focused bills aimed at maintaining Florida's status as the "Education State," including new measures to support teacher salaries.
Effective Date: The FIRE Act (HB 905) is scheduled to officially take effect on July 1, 2026.
For the full video replay of the Miami press conference, please visit the official Florida Governor’s website or local news streaming platforms.
#RonDeSantis #MiamiNews #FIREAct #HB905 #FloridaSecurity #BreakingNews
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NewsTranscript
00:00This great museum, Brigade 2506, we got a lot of people here with us.
00:05I know we have members of the brigade.
00:06We have our Commerce Secretary, Alex Kelly.
00:09We have representatives, Jenna Parsons-Malica and Fabrizio.
00:14We have Mike Williams, Florida Department of Law Enforcement Assistant Commissioner,
00:19Dade County Commissioners.
00:22We have City of Miami, West Miami, Coral Gables.
00:26A lot of people are here, of course, Zayas Bazan, President of the Bay of Pigs Museum and Library.
00:33We've been very supportive of this over many years.
00:37And we're here today and we're going to talk about the legislation I'm going to sign,
00:41which goes into issues involving the Cuban dictatorship as well as other rogue regimes like Iran.
00:48But as we sit here today, we can say that everything, the reason why the brigade fought when they did,
00:58it did what they did, is because they knew that Cuba had been taken over by a dictator, a communist
01:06dictator.
01:06And they knew that that meant the country was going to go in the toilet as a result of that.
01:12And so they were fighting to try to liberate the island from the dictatorship.
01:18And they were on the right side of history to do that.
01:21And so here we are now, decades later, and we can say that not only were they on the right
01:26side,
01:28it's been even worse than anyone could have imagined if you look at the state of Cuba today.
01:33And in 2026, it is time for the Cuban communist dictatorship to be put out to pasture once in a
01:43year.
01:54And I know that, you know, certainly President Trump and how he's viewed the importance of our own hemisphere
02:02to have a kind of a reinvigorated Monroe Doctrine and to certainly to have a good neighbor 90 miles off
02:10the shore of the United States
02:12and off the shore of Florida, that would be a good thing for our country, it would be a good
02:16thing for Florida.
02:17And I'll tell you this, if you, I've been around a lot of these places in the Caribbean and throughout
02:23Latin America.
02:23If Cuba was free, it would be an amazingly successful country.
02:30You know, I have, you know, I was down only in Georgia.
02:42I was down only in Guantanamo Bay, I didn't go outside that, I was down there, not as a detainee,
02:47but as an officer in the Navy.
02:48We were down there, and again, I didn't, I couldn't leave the wire, but you look at the coastline, I
02:56mean, the fishing, the boating,
02:58and I know there's so many more other things, it would really, really be a very affluent country very, very
03:05quickly.
03:05But it just shows you how pernicious communism is, because it's probably the least successful country, or certainly one of
03:16them in this hemisphere,
03:17and it's all because they've been living under the yoke of the Castro dictatorship.
03:22So I do believe that, and you remember a few years ago, I guess it was 2021, you had massive
03:29uprisings in Cuba.
03:31And what I was saying, and I know many of you, let's help these people, even if it's just helping
03:38with internet, because the regime shut the internet off.
03:41So the Biden administration wouldn't do that, of course, so I said, I'll do it.
03:46And so we were going to try to do Starlink, and Musk would have moved the satellites there,
03:52but you need to have devices on the ground in order to get Starlink, Biden wouldn't let us bring the
03:57devices in.
03:58So we couldn't do that.
03:59So then I'm like, okay, what else can you do?
04:00Well, apparently, you can send internet hot air balloons over areas, and it will beam down directly to a device,
04:08even if you don't have anything else connecting, just your phone, you can get it.
04:12And so we looked at it, we priced it out.
04:15I was going to spend like $20, $30 million from Florida to be able to do internet over there during
04:21this period of time,
04:22and the company that we were working with backed out because they thought that the Biden administration was going to
04:28pull their business license
04:30if they helped us with this contract and that.
04:33So not only did they not do anything to help the people of Cuba when they were showing the dissatisfaction
04:41with the regime,
04:42they even blocked our attempts in Florida to do the same.
04:46My sense is that the time is going to be running out on this regime.
04:50It's not going to be able to go on much longer, and I know that there will be better days
04:55ahead.
04:55So I won't be the only one that will be excited about that.
04:59I know there will be a lot of people down here, but I think we can all agree what you
05:03need is an end to the regime,
05:05not just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, not just saying, oh, we're going to start doing business,
05:11and they'll be a little more accommodating.
05:13You can't do business with criminals.
05:16You can't do business with people that have stolen so much from so many people.
05:25Which brings us to today's bill signing.
05:29We have worked together with members of the Florida legislature for many, many years
05:34to combat a pernicious foreign influence in Florida institutions,
05:39and this is not just an issue that Florida has to deal with.
05:42It's an issue that has become, unfortunately, nationwide.
05:46More and more foreign countries with agendas are trying to influence different American institutions,
05:53including colleges and universities, but also businesses and other things of that.
06:00So that's one of the reasons why a couple years ago I signed legislation banning the Chinese Communist Party
06:07from purchasing land in the state of Florida.
06:09They want to buy farmland, not here, but they're in there.
06:14We've also signed legislation to combat corporate espionage in Florida,
06:20and a lot of that is businesses that are controlled, at least in some ways, by the Chinese Communist Party,
06:26and, of course, anything involving Cuba is going to be controlled by the government as well.
06:32We made sure that foreign applications such as TikTok couldn't be on state-issued devices,
06:39in state networks, because we wanted to make sure we had strong cybersecurity.
06:44We also awarded $1.9 million to establish the Office of Secure Florida within the Department of Commerce.
06:51I know Alex Kelly will talk about that.
06:53We have 21 military installations.
06:56We're home to three combatant commands in the states, CENTCOM, SOUTHCOM, and SOCOM.
07:04We, of course, are a target here in the state of Florida for foreign espionage.
07:09We've cracked down on foreign involvement in higher education,
07:12and we've made sure we've identified countries that would represent a threat to Florida
07:18and made sure we have laws that prohibit things like charitable organizations from doing it,
07:24because they will run money through charities in order to be able to accomplish their mission.
07:28The CCP, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Syria, as well as Maduro's Venezuela,
07:37those are the countries that we've been concerned about, and we've worked really, really hard to do it.
07:42So today is a continuation of those efforts.
07:45H.B. 905 is titled the Foreign Interference Restriction and Enforcement Act,
07:51and I'll be signing that into law momentarily.
07:55It does a lot of different things, but particularly with respect to Cuba.
08:00It authorizes local governments and tax collectors to revoke business tax receipts
08:06for businesses operating in Cuba in violation of federal law.
08:11It creates accountability for false declarations regarding business activities in Cuba.
08:18Knowingly submitting a false declaration related to unlawful activity involving Cuba
08:22will now constitute a third-degree felony in the state of Florida.
08:27Additionally, the federal government changes Cuba's diplomatic status.
08:31The bill provides limited temporary authority for Florida to suspend certain restrictions
08:36while allowing the legislature to review long-term policy decisions.
08:41Additionally, this legislation prohibits pre-planned adoption agreements and surrogacy contracts
08:47involving citizens or residents of foreign countries of concern.
08:52China ships people here for birth.
08:56It's really a seedy thing, and I'm glad that we were able to do that.
09:00I know we're hoping that the Supreme Court is going to interpret the 14th Amendment
09:05so that we can put a stop to some of the people that are coming here for a month,
09:10having birth, and then going back to China.
09:12That's part of an operation.
09:14Why would we let that happen and grant citizenship under those circumstances?
09:20The bill also creates enhanced criminal penalties for crimes committed to benefit foreign governments
09:25or foreign-owned terrorist organizations, as I mentioned, charitable organizations.
09:30It prohibits those organizations from accepting contribution or support from designated terrorist organizations,
09:37including the Council of American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim Brotherhood,
09:42which we have done in the state of Florida with our most recent bill cracking down on the expansion of
09:48Sharia.
09:49The bill also requires the Department of State to maintain and publish a list of all foreign consulate offices
09:55and all sister city and sister state affiliations in Florida.
10:00I mean, Alex may talk about it a little bit, and maybe Jenna will.
10:04We have cities that have, like, sister agreements with some really bad, bad spots.
10:09And so this bill addresses that.
10:11But, you know, it's one thing to do it, but to do it, if you're doing a sister agreement,
10:16I mean, we have the Adam Smith Center at Florida International University.
10:21And you do a sister agreement with, like, his hometown.
10:23Okay, fine.
10:24But to talk about some of these countries of concern, again, that allows them to have influence over our way
10:33of life here in Florida,
10:34that we don't want to do that.
10:35So if you go back, I mean, remember when I first became governor,
10:38we had to deal with the Confucius Institutes that were popping up, including in Miami-Dade County.
10:46And because we work together with the legislature, those Confucius Institutes are a thing of the past.
10:53They don't exist anymore in Florida because we recognize they were CCP-directed entities,
11:00and they were basically trying to get into our schools to distribute propaganda.
11:05So we were doing that.
11:06We've done a lot on Cuba, on Iran, on all these others.
11:09And then today, I think this is a really important advancement in those efforts.
11:14So I want to thank everybody that's been involved in it.
11:16This is going to make a difference.
11:17We're going to hear from some speakers, and then I'll go ahead and sign and make it official.
11:21So we'll start with our Commerce Secretary, Alex Kelly.
11:30Well, Governor, thank you so much, and thank all of you.
11:33And, Governor, I want to just really pick up on your point in three ways,
11:37your point that we can't do business with criminals.
11:40This legislation, Representative, thank you so much for sponsoring this.
11:43This legislation, I think really there's three...
11:49Whether it's a private company, whether it's an agency of government,
11:53whether it's an educational institution, partnership, any contract, any manner of business always inherits risk.
11:58But we have to de-risk those propositions.
12:01We have to know who we're doing business with at all times.
12:03This is a pro-business, protect business bill.
12:06Governor, you mentioned we have 21 major military installations, three combatant commands in this state.
12:11And those military agencies have critical relationships with our universities, with our colleges, with private business.
12:18We have over 900,000 Floridians who work in defense-related jobs, directly in defense-related jobs.
12:24Defense in the state of Florida is a $100 billion industry.
12:28It's a critical part of literally every corner of this state, and we can't put that at risk.
12:33Again, we have to protect what is critical to our national security and to jobs in the state of Florida.
12:39And then just, you know, I'll lean a bit to my background.
12:43It's actually more education and workforce education.
12:45And when we think about the potential for bad actors to try to influence our way of life through our
12:53education systems,
12:54this bill, just like those prior two issues, this bill gets to that and protects that
12:58and makes sure that bad actors cannot try to influence how we live freely,
13:02make sure they cannot influence that through our educational institutions.
13:05So, Governor, Representative, I just want to thank you for your leadership, and thank you for signing this bill, sir.
13:11Okay.
13:18Hey, good afternoon.
13:19I'm Mike Williams.
13:20I'm the Assistant Commissioner for Foreign Department Law Enforcement.
13:22And I want to take a minute to thank Governor DeSantis for continuing to prioritize the safety of Florida citizens
13:29through legislation by House Bill 905.
13:31So, signing this piece of legislation in the law shows foreign terrorist organizations
13:35that we will not tolerate anyone coming into our state with the intention of causing harm to our citizens or
13:41our visitors.
13:42Now, House Bill 905 will help this department continue to strengthen domestic security
13:46and protect the buildings around the state.
13:49This bill sends a clear message that Florida will not put our citizens in a path to be vulnerable
13:54by countries that have proven their malicious intentions against our nation.
13:57And proactive legislation, like House Bill 905, shows that analysis and intelligence gathered by our law enforcement analyst agents
14:06is important to safeguard Floridians.
14:08So, Florida will continue to work with our partners and the community to protect against domestic security threats,
14:14and the public can help with these efforts, you know, by reporting suspicious activities.
14:19Look, I'll tell you this.
14:20Nobody knows your neighborhood like you know your neighborhood.
14:22Nobody knows your street like you know your street.
14:25So, if you see something, say something.
14:27And we've talked about that before, no matter how small.
14:30So, that little piece of information that you pass on could be the final piece of the puzzle for us
14:36to clear a criminal case,
14:38take down a criminal organization, or stop a terrorist attack in our community.
14:42So, don't hesitate to share that information.
14:44Share it with local law enforcement or share it with FDLE through our website or through 1-800-FLA-SAFE.
14:501-800-FLA-SAFE.
14:52All right, with that, Governor, thank you very much.
15:02Good afternoon.
15:03It is truly an honor to be here with you in this amazing new museum that not only honors the
15:10esteemed gentlemen who are here with us today
15:12who fought so hard for freedom, but honors the lives of so many who gave the ultimate sacrifice to fight
15:20for freedom.
15:21And that's what we're here today to talk about, freedom.
15:25We are fortunate to have leadership in the state of Florida that not only values our freedoms, but takes the
15:31action necessary to protect them.
15:34And that starts at the top with our great governor, Ron DeSantis.
15:45It also includes our cabinet, and I just want to say thank you to each of our cabinet members from
15:51our CFOs cracking down on fraud.
15:53And thank you to our Attorney General James Uphmeyer, I've had numerous conversations with him on the threat that China
15:59and other foreign adversaries pose to our state.
16:02And I thank him for the multiple investigations he has opened, and Commissioner Simpson, I had the honor to work
16:08with him on legislation in the past that ensured that our charitable organizations in the state of Florida are not
16:14going to be used as slush funds or as front groups for those who seek to do us harm.
16:19Today, House Bill 905, I call it the FIRE Act.
16:23It protects the free state of Florida from being targeted by foreign adversaries, and it builds on the prior work
16:29that we've done in Florida, protecting our state colleges and universities, protecting our agricultural property and our property near military
16:38installations and critical infrastructure.
16:40I first became engaged in looking at state security issues through my research on nonprofit accountability, I came across this
16:502023 annual threat assessment from the US Office of National Intelligence that said foreign interests such as China are using
16:59a variety of tools, like front groups, in order to build influence at the state and local level to ship
17:06US policy in their favor because of the belief that local
17:10local officials are more pliable than our federal counterparts.
17:15I hosted roundtables over the course of two years to discuss and flesh out what exposures our state and communities
17:22still have to the foreign influence campaigns.
17:26And I want to thank everyone who participated and contributed to those conversations, including Attorney General F. Meyer, Lieutenant Governor
17:33Jay Collins, Representative Owen, Secretary Allende, and numerous academic scholars, subject matter experts,
17:40and retired military and law enforcement officials.
17:43I also want to thank my colleagues in the legislature who have been an integral part in getting us across
17:48the finish line, starting with my counterpart in the Senate.
17:51She couldn't be here today, Senator Erin Brawl, but she is truly a great partner in all legislation.
17:58We also worked together to pass Florida SAVE Act.
18:00She's thoughtful and she's strong.
18:10It's been an honor to work with her, as well as Representative Owen, Redondo, Alvarez, including here, Representative Blanco and
18:18Fabricio, thank you for your work, and Senator Burgess for his work on past legislation.
18:22In Florida, we are a beacon for freedom and liberty.
18:27People come here for refuge from oppression.
18:31Our individual freedoms must not only be treasured, but they must be protected.
18:36As you heard, we know our foreign adversaries are targeting state and local governments,
18:41and this bill gives local governments additional tools to push back against foreign influence and interference operations.
18:49One of those tools we heard about is to give tax collectors another way to ensure that businesses aren't breaking
18:57our law and doing business with Cuba.
18:59And I want to thank your tax collector, Daryl Fernandez, for bringing forth that very important piece of tax.
19:09We also know these foreign adversaries do not believe in freedom like we do.
19:14China's constitution, for example, includes duties and obligations of Chinese citizens, compelling them to do anything that is deemed in
19:23the interest of the motherland of China.
19:25And we know China is reaching beyond its borders into our borders to try to enforce its laws against people
19:32who are in our state.
19:33The FIRE Act seeks to deter that transnational repression and protect the freedom of all Floridians by increasing penalties if
19:41a foreign agent harasses or targets them
19:44or commits any crime with the intention to benefit a foreign country or terrorist organization.
19:50We also in the state of Florida, we support a free and independent Cuba.
19:54Yes.
19:55And this bill gives the governor the tools.
20:03And this bill gives the governor the tool to waive certain restrictions so that we can open up relations with
20:09Cuba when the time is right and the regime is changed and we have a free Cuba once again.
20:14We also saw, and you heard from the governor in recent months, alarming reports of Chinese nationals exploiting our surrogacy
20:23and immigration laws.
20:24That is a serious national and state security risk.
20:28I'll add to what the governor said.
20:30One Chinese billionaire has fathered over 100 American-born children using surrogacy.
20:38And there's example after example.
20:40But these children are born on United States soil.
20:44They're granted United States citizenship.
20:46And they're shipped back to China where they're raised under the communist regime.
20:50In the future, they can return here as full citizens and live in a free and open society.
20:55They could potentially run for office, all the while still being compelled to act in the interests of communist China.
21:02The fire act stops this trafficking of children in the state of Florida by prohibiting surrogacy contracts with parties who
21:10are a citizen or resident of a foreign country of concern.
21:13These are the realities that we are dealing with.
21:17Our work in the area of state security never ends.
21:21We must remain vigilant and continue to make sure that we protect our great state of Florida from attack by
21:28our foreign enemies.
21:29The fire act tells them we are paying attention and think twice before targeting our great state.
21:42Anyone wants to be, I'll sign right here.
21:45So come on up if you want to be a part of the press.
21:55Eight or nine?
21:58May 8th?
21:59May 8th.
21:59May 8th.
22:00May 8th.
22:01May 8th.
22:02May 8th.
22:03May 8th.
22:04May 8th.
22:08May 9th.
22:09May 9th.
22:16May 9th.
22:21May 9th.
22:23May 9th.
22:25May 9th.
22:26May 9th.
22:27May 9th.
22:29May 9th.
22:35May 9th.
22:56I'm going to do a few more comments and do some questions.
23:02I want to thank Senator Graw, who did it in the Senate, and then Jenna, I mean, she's done, she
23:08did this bill, she did our bill, she did our Florida Save Act bill, election integrity, and she did the
23:20bill that provides for the decertification of the partisan teacher unions, and so that's a big deal to do those
23:26three in one session, so great job.
23:33Okay, have you got any questions back there?
23:35Governor, the FBI director told Fox News that the Bureau had foiled a terrorist attack in Florida, and I was
23:41just wondering if you knew anything about that, if they had told you anything about that.
23:44I have not been briefed on that.
23:46Could you tell us, do you have a timeline for shutting down Alligator Alcatraz, or what the plan is for
23:52the facility in the future?
23:53So I think as most people who know this is something we were asked to do because they didn't have
23:58bed space at DHS at the beginning of the Trump administration, and we were happy to do it.
24:04We're all in on this mission.
24:05But we don't choose who goes there.
24:08They send, and then they're staged, and then they're repatriated to their home country, and that's been 22,000 illegal
24:16aliens have done that, and if we didn't have that, presumably many of them would have been released back into
24:23Florida communities, and that includes Trent Day Aragua gang members.
24:26It includes a lot of people, if you look at the mix that's gone through there, that are very problematic,
24:31and we don't want in our communities, but they didn't have any money last year.
24:35Now they've got a big influx.
24:37I know they've been working to expand detention space, so if they come to us and say, yeah, we're going
24:42to start sending to other places, and they're not sending to us, well, then obviously it was always meant to
24:48be temporary.
24:49I'm not going to keep something there for no reason.
24:52There were people when we started this, oh, this is going to lead to the development of the, because it's
24:57the airport, it's an airport, it's already built, but they were saying it's going to lead to, like, development of
25:03ever, no, it's not.
25:04You know, when there's not a need for it, then it'll get broken down.
25:08I don't know that that's the case.
25:09I mean, I know that there have been reports.
25:11I've spoken with people like Tom Homan.
25:14I think there's certainly a view, at least some view in the administration, they still need the beds, but if
25:20they tell us they're not going to send any more there, then obviously we're not just going to do it
25:25just to do it.
25:26I mean, it was there to serve a purpose.
25:27It was never meant to be permanent, and I hope that they have the resources to be able to handle
25:32it themselves.
25:33Had they had normal DHS operations under Biden, they may have been able to handle that.
25:38But I can tell you, in Florida, when the president took office, and I started talking to people like Tom
25:44Homan, we had the lowest number per capita of beds for them, which obviously just wasn't going to be adequate.
25:52So it is over 22,000, which has been a big deal, and I know that it's certainly made the
25:58state safer.
25:58There's no question about it.
25:59So I'm glad we've been involved in that.
26:01We'll continue to do it, but if they don't need it, then just let us know, and we'll pivot accordingly.
26:06Some vendors say they haven't been getting paid by the state with Alligator on Contrast.
26:11Do you know why that is?
26:12I don't know which vendors you're referring to, so you'll have to ask Kevin Guthrie on that.
26:17I mean, I know there's been – it's obviously a manufactured narrative to try to say that the state wasn't
26:23going to get reimbursed for this,
26:24even though the president of the United States went when it was open and said they're going to get reimbursed,
26:28and even though we've received assurances that will happen.
26:31But FEMA reimbursements, this was done through FEMA because they didn't have the reconciliation bill yet when we did it.
26:38And so it was FEMA, and then you've got to submit and you get reimbursed.
26:42I know we are going to get reimbursed on our end.
26:45How then that money goes to the vendors or all that, that would be a question for Kevin Guthrie.
26:50But our operations there and mission there, our reimbursable expenses.
26:55But here's the thing.
26:58What are the costs of not helping out and doing it?
27:02And there is costs.
27:03There's costs in education, health care, law enforcement, a whole bunch of other things that if you're not in the
27:09mission and you're not helping,
27:10that can be really, really detrimental to taxpayers in Florida.
27:14And people don't usually talk about that.
27:16I mean, they'll hit the Trump administration.
27:18Oh, they're spending money, you know, in here or there to do this, to enforce the law.
27:24But they don't really want to talk about what are the costs when you don't enforce the law.
27:28And there are definitely costs to taxpayers with respect to illegal immigration.
27:33There's also costs when you have some of these localities and states around the country that aren't serious about law
27:40enforcement writ large.
27:41And we are a law and order state in Florida, even apart from just the illegal immigration issue.
27:47I mean, across the board, we have stood by law enforcement through thick and thin.
27:52We have strong laws on the books.
27:54You know, you remember when they were trying to do no cash bail in the Miami-Dade court system?
27:59We put a stop to that very quickly because it wasn't going to work.
28:08And we've been very strong against child predators, which is something that is, unfortunately, it's like, you know, these people
28:15just come out of the woodwork.
28:17And it's a really, you know, sad commentary on some parts of humanity that you'd see this.
28:23But we throw the book and make sure that people are going to do it.
28:26In fact, we reauthorized the death penalty for pedophiles in the state of Florida.
28:31That should be the penalty.
28:39So I hope that, you know, having a 50-year low in the crime rate, that is something that it
28:45obviously takes a lot of work with the people on the ground.
28:48We've got great sheriffs.
28:49We've got a lot of great police chiefs.
28:51Not 100 percent, but a lot.
28:53I think we have the best in the country.
28:55We've had a lot of people move to Florida to serve in law enforcement.
28:59You want to be treated well here, be treated poorly in Seattle or some of these places.
29:04I mean, obviously, it's a very enticing thing to want to come down and do it.
29:07But we've also had the good policy.
29:09We have not embraced the jailbreak policies.
29:12We have not done what some of these other states have done by eliminating cash bail.
29:17You know, I've got the governor of Illinois.
29:19You know, he's chirping now.
29:21And he eliminated cash bail in Illinois.
29:25That makes the people less safe, not more safe.
29:28You apprehend a criminal.
29:30They put them right back on the street.
29:32Are you kidding me?
29:34They have weak laws against the criminal element.
29:37But I would also note, you know, during COVID, he had locked down Illinois, you know, tight as a tick.
29:45And his family was down in Wellington living in a free state of Florida.
29:49How does that make sense that that would be allowed to happen?
29:54And I know a lot of people were very, very upset about that.
29:57So, all being said, you know, we've done, the law and order has been very important and we'll continue to
30:03do it.
30:04Okay, we've got one more.
30:05What is your response to the three legal challenges this week saying Florida's maps violate the state of the Constitution?
30:11Well, it doesn't.
30:12And we've been down this road before.
30:15We've been down this road in 22 when I fought the legislature on the maps because we had a racially
30:22gerrymandered district in North Florida.
30:24And I said that was unconstitutional.
30:27They initially said if you dismantle it, that it would violate Florida's Constitution.
30:31I said, no, it wouldn't.
30:33And so we did it.
30:34It went up and it was approved.
30:35I think it lost in trial court.
30:38But then it got upheld at the Supreme Court.
30:42And so that was the North Florida.
30:44There was another racially gerrymandered district in Southern Florida, which this new map unpacks.
30:50And it has these, like, crazy claws or whatever going out.
30:53And it was drawn on the base of race.
30:56Now, what they said was, well, that really didn't have anything to do with Florida's Constitution.
31:00The Voting Rights Act requires that racially gerrymandered district.
31:05And at the time, even though I personally didn't think that was the original meaning of the VRA to have
31:11those crazy districts,
31:12the jurisprudence had not necessarily evolved to the point.
31:17As we started getting into 24 and 25, well, we knew that those districts were not going to be long
31:24for this world.
31:25So remember, I called this.
31:26People said, oh, they're responding to Virginia.
31:28I called this special session.
31:30I issued the proclamation in January because I knew the Calais decision was going to come down.
31:35And I knew that it was going to say what it did.
31:38So what does that mean?
31:39It means Florida's provision on redistricting that says you must use race is not constitutional.
31:45So not only do we have the right to unpack it, we had a responsibility to unpack it.
31:52And I would challenge people, look at Virginia's just got nicks.
31:56Look at California, how it's drawn.
31:59Crazy snakes, this and that.
32:00And then look at Florida's.
32:02They're compact districts.
32:04Visually, you look at it, and it's trying to get the population to do.
32:08So I think, again, it will ultimately be successful.
32:11As we've learned, and I'm not saying on this one, you know, sometimes they'll rush the court, you know, get
32:16a ruling.
32:17We went on appeal and all this.
32:18So I don't know exactly how it's going to go procedurally.
32:21But I know at the end of the day, we'll be upheld.
32:25I think it was a good job that was done.
32:26And it was appropriate, not only because you did have an unconstitutional district and there did need to be redraw.
32:34But this is a different state than it was five or six years ago.
32:38I mean, we've netted two million people since the census.
32:42That has caused issues in terms of how these districts were organized before.
32:49You know, one district would vote this much, one would vote this much.
32:51So I think the new map really addresses the constitutional deficiency, but then also just recognizes that the state has
33:01changed a lot in a very short period of time.
33:04And look, you know, some people would tell me, Governor, stop bringing all these people here.
33:08There's too many.
33:09I'm not bringing anybody.
33:10Understand.
33:11It's a free country.
33:12If you want to move from Miami to Portland, I don't know why you would, but if you did, you
33:18have a right to do it.
33:19Portland can't stop you.
33:20Oregon can't stop you.
33:22If people want to come here, they don't have to check with me.
33:24As a U.S. citizen, you have a right to go anywhere in the country you want.
33:28But it just so happens that a lot of people have decided, you know, to come here over the years.
33:34And we've seen an increase in income, population-wise, other things.
33:39But, you know, I always tell people, and I get, like, you know, I'm not asking people to come because
33:43there is.
33:44There's pressure points that happen, traffic, this other stuff, and we'll work through.
33:48We put money in and all that, but it's not an easy thing to do.
33:51But I also have to say is, like, look, I'm not asking people to come, but do you want me
33:55to do policies like Illinois and California that drives people?
33:59What?
33:59You don't want that.
34:00You want to have the good policy.
34:01So we're going to continue to do that and make sure things continue going in a strong way.
34:06Thanks, everybody.
34:07God bless.
34:07Thank you very much.
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