CLEARWATER — Gov. Ron DeSantis admits he wasn’t familiar with the federal legislation vetoed by Donald Trump last week that would have given the Miccosukee Tribe more control over a portion of the Everglades.
But he says he agrees with the president’s assertion that the tribe has worked against the president’s immigration efforts.
In his statement last week announcing his veto of H.R. 504, the Miccosukee Reserved Area Amendments Act, sponsored by South Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Carlos Giménez, Trump declared the Miccosukee Tribe “has actively sought to obstruct reasonable immigration policies that the American people decisively voted for when I was elected.”
That was a reference to the fact that the Miccosukee Tribe of Florida is part of a lawsuit against the state which claims planners behind an immigration detention center in the Everglades, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz,” failed to follow federal environmental regulations in constructing the 3,000-bed facility.
READ MORE: Miccosukee Tribe 'disappointed' with Trump veto of bill to protect its historic Everglades camp
The legislation (previously supported by a bipartisan group of Florida lawmakers, including U.S. GOP Sens. Rick Scott and Ashley Moody) would have added a small village called the Osceola Camp to a section of the Florida Everglades that the Miccosukee Native American Tribe controls. It would also require the Department of the Interior to protect structures in the village from flooding.
“What he pointed out — [the tribe] is trying to obstruct the immigration — that is true,” DeSantis said during a press conference in Clearwater Tuesday. “I mean, they tried to obstruct and it was demagogic, they were not being honest about what was going on.”
The governor went on to call the Miccosukee Tribe “wrong” and said it was “disappointing to see them do that,” apparently referring to the organization’s involvement in the lawsuit.
The Miccosukee Tribe did not immediately respond to a request for comment about DeSantis’ remarks, but a spokesperson told the Phoenix Monday that they have “long supported President Trump’s commitment to Everglades restoration for the benefit of America’s public lands.”
“The Tribe has a constitutional duty to protect and defend the Everglades ecosystem, our traditional homelands. We never sought to obstruct the President’s immigration agenda. Instead, we have taken action to ensure sufficient environmental due diligence is performed to protect federal restoration investments,” Chairman Talbert Cypress said in a written statement.
He added that the tribe was “disappointed to learn that the White House vetoed a measure intended to mitigate restoration impacts on a Tribal village.”
Politico reported Monday that the U.S. House of Representatives will vote Thursday whether to override two vetoes, one being of HR 504. That outlet reported that “senior House Republicans and Democrats generally expect the chamber will approve the overrides in a rare rebuke of Trump.”
Prosecuting Maduro in Florida?
DeSantis also said on Tuesday that Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier’s office is “looking very seriously” at bringing a state criminal case against Nicolás Maduro, removed Saturday as president of Venezuela by U.S. troops on four criminal counts that include narco-terrorism, cocaine importation conspiracy, and possession of machine guns and destructive devices. He pleaded not guilty to those charges in federal court in New York on Monday.
Because Maduro “was obviously very involved with bringing drugs, particularly to Florida,” DeSantis said, the state could charge him with bringing criminals and gang members here.
The former Venezuelan president “would empty his prisons and send them to America across the border, and we’d end up with some of these people in Florida, Tren de Aragua gang members that were in prison there and he did that, and so to me that is a very hostile act,” he said.
With additional reporting by Jay Waagmeester.
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