Ron DeSantis may make it easier for teenagers to work in Florida in an attempt to replace the illegal migrants being deported by the Trump administration.
A bill that would relax restrictions on working hours for Florida teenagers is moving through the state Legislature amid an ongoing crackdown on illegal immigration.
The bill would permit 16- and 17-year-olds to work overnight on school days and work longer than an eight-hour day before a school day.
Some 14- and 15-year-olds would also be allowed to work those hours.
DeSantis has been pushing a program to assist the federal government in finding and deporting migrants in the country illegally in Florida.
At a recent event at the New College of Florida with ‘border czar’ Tom Homan, DeSantis sounded supportive of the concept behind the bill.
‘Why do we say we need to import foreigners, even import them illegally, when, you know, teenagers used to work at these resorts, college students should be able to do this stuff?’ the governor said.
The bill’s sponsor, Republican state Sen. Jay Collins, said the measure was ‘a parental rights thing’ and that parents can ensure their teenagers who work would not fall behind in school.
‘Parents know their kids best,’ he said Tuesday during a meeting of the Commerce and Tourism Committee, which approved the bill on a 5-4 vote.
‘I can promise you that, even though I was challenged, my mom would have smacked me with a flip-flop if my academic grades had suffered. That’s very much the same thing in most families.’
Collins also noted that all workers would remain protected by the Fair Labor Standards Act, which bars hazardous working conditions for youths, among other things.
The committee meeting drew numerous public comments. Jackson Oberlink of Florida for All said the bill amounts to ‘exploitation’ of vulnerable populations.
‘Make no mistake, the children who will suffer the most under this law will be low-income, working class and migrant youth, the same communities that corporations already exploit,’ Oberlink said.
The bill must be approved by two more committees before reaching the Senate floor.
During the Biden years, DeSantis was one of the GOP’s toughest fighters over the president’s handling of the border.
DeSantis sent two planes with 50 mostly Venezuelan asylum-seekers to Democratic enclave island of Martha’s Vineyard in September of 2022.
The move was highly popular among those critical of President Joe Biden’s handling of the southern border crisis – but was slammed by Democrats as a political stunt rather than a legitimate solution to relieving southern communities of mass influxes of migrants.
The Martha’s Vineyard migrants were eligible to apply for U-visas after Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, a Democrat, certified they were victims of a crime, reported The Miami Herald.
In early March, Trump declared that the ‘invasion’ of the United States is over and the border is now ‘closed to all illegal immigrants’ after mass ICE arrests.
In a post to his Truth Social page, Trump said that in the last month his administration had recorded the lowest number of immigrants trying to enter the country ever.
Trump said in total there was 8,326 apprehensions by Border Patrol at the Southern Border.
He added that these people ‘were quickly ejected from our Nation or, when necessary prosecuted for crimes against the United States of America.’
The commander-in-chief added: ‘This means that very few people came – The Invasion of our Country is OVER.
‘In comparison, under Joe Biden, there were 300,000 Illegals crossing in one month, and virtually ALL of them were released into our Country.
‘Thanks to the Trump Administration Policies, the Border is CLOSED to all Illegal Immigrants.
‘Anyone who tries to illegally enter the U.S.A. will face significant criminal penalties and immediate deportation.’
His statement came after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirsti Noem announced that the administration had arrested 20,000 illegal aliens in one month.
Noem touted that as a 627 percent increase in monthly arrests, compared to President Biden.
She said: ‘President Trump and this Administration are saving lives every day because of the actions we are taking to secure the border and deport illegal alien criminals.
‘Hundreds of thousands of criminals were let into this country illegally. We are sending them home, and they will never be allowed to return.’
Trump’s stance is that all migrants in the US, without documentation, are criminals because they illegally entered or illegally remained in the country.
He vowed during his campaign to remove criminals from the country, labeling some migrants as the ‘worst of the worst’.
As his administration continues ramping up its crackdown on illegal immigration, some long-evading, at large fugitives are getting taken in after decades of delays.
Recently, White House officials revealed to DailyMail.com that north of 6,000 migrants were deported in Trump’s first two weeks.
Migrants have also been airlifted to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as well—a location that is expected to hold approximately 30,000 aliens as ICE facilities reach their limits.
Some have also been taken to El Salvador, in a controversial move that has faced legal challenges against an Obama-appointed district court judge.