Republican Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida revealed to the gathered media that three of four suspects arrested for looting in Lee County were as many suspected: illegal immigrants.
DeSantis, who made headlines early in the week with a stern warning for looters following the devastation of hurricane Ian, clearly was not pleased.
“They’re illegally in our country. Not only that, they tried to loot & ransack in the aftermath of a natural disaster.” DeSantis explained. “They need to be sent back to their home country. They should not be here at all.”
Gov. DeSantis says 3 out of 4 people arrested for looting are illegal aliens: “They’re illegally in our country. Not only that, they tried to loot & ransack in the aftermath of a natural disaster. They need to be sent back to their home country. They should not be here at all.” pic.twitter.com/gl8BZmpcLf
— Real Mac Report (@RealMacReport) October 4, 2022
Later during the press conference, DeSantis was asked an unusual question regarding illegal immigrants by a reporter, “Governor. You brought up the issue of immigration. There are Venezuelan immigrants, asylum seekers in New York that are being reportedly recruited to come to the state of Florida and work on the hurricane recovery. I’m wondering what your response is to those reports and whether you would turn them away.”
DeSantis seemed to sense the setup and sidestepped it, refocusing instead on the issue at hand.
“So first of all, our program that we did is a voluntary relocation program. I don’t have the authority to forcibly relocate people. Um, if I could, you know, I would take those three looters, I’d drag them out by the collars and I’d send them back to where they came from.”
“But that’s the federal government. Unfortunately, that’s the federal government’s view. I think states should be able to be more active in that regard. Unfortunately, states have lost court decision after court decision on that. Uh, so, so that’s just kind of where we are.”
Suspected Illegal Immigrants Brandon Mauricio Araya and Steve Eduardo Sanchez
Suspected Illegal Immigrants Omar Mejia Ortiz and Valerie Celeste Salcedo Mena
According to The Daily Mail, the four men were arrested on charges of “burglary of an unoccupied structure during a state of emergency,” per the Lee County Jail’s online records. Brandon Mauricio Araya, Steve Eduardo Sanchez Araya, Omar Mejia Ortiz and Valerie Celeste Salcedo Mena are all booked in Lee County pending a hearing scheduled for Oct. 30.
Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno told reporters,
“All three of these subjects are here illegally in this country — Robert Mena, Brandon Araya, Stephen Araya — all arrested for stealing bottles on Fort Myers Beach during the hurricane. They were located and arrested. And I’m going to tell you, I’m not tolerating it again.”
Marceno warned that any looters like the four arrested on September 29, illegal immigrants or not, are risking their lives.
“I’m not playing. We’re not playing. We have law and order and great residents will be safe and secure. We’ve had arrests on these incidents,” Marceno continued.
He added grimly, “You might walk in. You’ll be carried out.”
