Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is sending a clear message to violent rioters across the country, warning if they come to the Sunshine State they will face “swift” and “severe” consequences.
The governor made the comment during a press conference last week, when he announced the state’s 2021 budget includes $1,000 checks for every police officer, firefighter, paramedic, and EMT in Florida.
“I think if you look around the country, what happens is, like in Portland, these people riot every night,” DeSantis said. “They go, they get their mug shot, and then they get put right back on the street and do it again. That’s what we don’t want.”
“The minute you harm somebody else or you harm somebody’s property, you do those types of things, the only way we’re going to put a stop to it is have very swift penalties for it,” he added.
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DeSantis singled out Portland because the city has been an epicenter for violence since antifa and Black Lives Matter rioters broke out last spring.
It was just reported last week that, between May 25 and Oct. 7 of last year, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Oregon filed federal charges against 97 people connected to the violence in Portland. Since then, 58 of those cases have either been dismissed entirely or are on track for dismissal. There are 32 cases still pending, most of which will reportedly end up being dismissed, according to Fox News.
Seven people have entered guilty pleas, only one of whom is headed to prison.
Part of the problem, DeSantis said, is police have not been supported.
“There’s a lot of places around this country that have not stood by law enforcement, and the tragedy of it is, you’re seeing crime spike in certain parts of our country like we haven’t seen in decades,” the conservative governor said. “The people that are going to be most affected by that are the most vulnerable members of our society.”
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DeSantis argued the bonuses his state is giving to first responders sends the following message: “Hey, if you are in Portland and you think you can come down to Florida and do this, stay out of our state.”
“We don’t want you coming down here and causing problems,” he explained. “If you try to burn something down, try to harm anybody, but particularly a police officer during one of these violent assemblies, there will be consequences. They will be swift and they will be severe. They will be such that people who see that happening will know that’s not something that we want to do going forward.”