Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
■ With storm brewing, Gov. Ron DeSantis urges residents to get supplies and stay alert.
DeSantis supports Trump’s decision to deny Temporary Protected Status
Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday that Florida, its businesses and citizens are prepared to help Bahamians affected by Hurricane Dorian get the relief they need — in their country and not by opening up the state to people hoping to relocate.
“If you just need the relief, that’s not what Florida’s set up for. Florida is helping to send resources to the Bahamas so the relief can be administered there,” DeSantis said at a news conference in Dania Beach, after an event at which he joined business and charity leaders in announcing support for the Bahamas from the sport fishing community.
Temporary Protected Status
DeSantis also said he doesn’t see a problem with Trump administration’s decision to deny Temporary Protected Status to Bahamians, which would allow them to live and work legally in the U.S. while their country recovers from the storm.
Multiple news organizations reported Wednesday that the Trump administration decided against granting TPS to people evacuated from the Bahamas after Dorian.
“TPS is only for people who are already here, so I think when people are saying, ‘Oh, let the people who came get it.’ That’s not what it’s for,” he said. “TPS is if you’re in the United States, something happens in your home country, then you can apply for it. So, I don’t even think it’s applicable, and I think the Bahamian government has not asked for it. And so I just don’t think it would even apply.”
Also Thursday, 17 Democratic U.S. senators — including five of the party’s presidential candidates — introduced legislation to grant TPS to “eligible Bahamian citizens” for 18 months. U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, a Miami Democrat whose district includes part of South Broward and has a significant Bahamian population, introduced a version of TPS in the House.
“The Trump administration’s decision not to grant Temporary Protected Status to the people of the Bahamas shows an utter lack of compassion for a nation ravaged by Hurricane Dorian,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a written statement.
Last Friday, a group of 15 Florida members of Congress — both Democrats and Republicans — asked Trump to support TPS for the Bahamas “should its government request it.” The letter originated with Wilson and was signed by South Florida U.S. Reps. Ted Deutch, Mario DiazBalart, Lois Frankel, Alcee Hastings, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, Donna Shalala, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
People from many countries have been granted TPS over the years, including Haitians after their country experienced a devastating earthquake in 2010. About 315,000 people from 10 countries currently have TPS.
Critics have complained that it never ends, and people stay for many years after the disasters that affected their countries. The Trump administration has said that TPS commitments to nationals from other countries need to come to an end.
Message to Bahamians
DeSantis said his message to Bahamians already in Florida is: “Follow whatever the law is in terms of the federal government.”
He said he had a briefing from the Border Patrol on Wednesday and was told about 3,000 people have come from the Bahamas to the U.S. from the storm. Half were U.S. citizens and 99% of the other half had passports or visas and arrangements to stay with family and friends in the United States.
DeSantis said it is important to get aid to people in the Bahamas, which he said the state, its residents and businesses are doing. “The name of the game is relief and stabilization. We have done a lot of stuff. We’ll be able to send some stuff from Florida.”
On Tuesday, he said the state was donating 10 truckloads of emergency water, set to expire at the end of the hurricane season, to the Bahamas. He said $11 million in donations from Florida businesses had been pledged at that point.
On Thursday, he said the efforts include $1.5 million for transitional housing would help 1,000 people in the Bahamas “who would be able to be stabilized and have some housing.”
Aid efforts
DeSantis was at the Bass Pro Shops store in Dania Beach, where he joined the chain’s founder Johnny Morris to announce an “Anglers for the Bahamas” recovery effort.
The partners from the fishing industry are donating a total of $2 million in cash and goods that will flow via the international relief organization Convoy of Hope, Morris said.
The donations range from $500,000 in cash and $500,000 of goods from Bass Pro Shops including family-sized tents, outdoor cooking kits, to 125,000 servings of canned chicken from Tyson Foods and 5,000 bags of protein-enriched Jack Link’s beef jerky.
DeSantis praised Morris and both Republican and Democratic lawmakers for their efforts to aid residents of the Bahamas, as well as celebrity athletes who are part-time Florida residents. DeSantis said Tiger Woods has promised to match up to $6 million and Michael Jordan has pledged $1 million.