DeSantis Urges Congress to Defund Sanctuary States That License Illegal Aliens as Drivers

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is calling on Congress to defund sanctuary states that provide illegal immigrants with driver’s licenses.

DeSantis’ push comes after an illegal alien, Harjinder Singh, was charged with three counts of vehicular homicide after he appears to have tried to make an illegal U-turn while driving a commercial tractor-trailer on Aug. 12 on the Florida Turnpike that resulted in a crash that killed three people.

According to federal marshals, Singh flew to California the day after the fatal crash, where he was eventually detained in Stockton. They stated that Singh had been in the country illegally since 2018 and had obtained a commercial driver’s license in California. 

“And that should have never happened. He should have never been here. He certainly shouldn’t have gotten a commercial driver’s license from California,” DeSantis said at a news conference on Tuesday. 

The Florida Republican governor has taken a leading role in cooperating with the Trump administration’s illegal alien deportation policies, touring a new detention facility nicknamed Alligator Alcatraz with the president. 

DeSantis contended that Congress needed to take action to stop California and other states from issuing driver’s licenses to people who have not been given legal permission to be in the country.

“But what it shows is, it can’t just be, like, we do things right in Florida, and somehow that’s going to cure what’s happening on the Left Coast and some of these other places. Ultimately, Congress has the power of the purse. They do not need to fund you if you’re a sanctuary state. They can remove funding from sanctuary cities, so stop subsidizing this.”

DeSantis opined at the apparent lack of much in the way of an emotional reaction from Singh on released footage from the crash. 

“And you know, it’s disturbing, too, because if you look, we have video of this, we have photos of this, and … it was almost like, you know, he’s walking down the sidewalk, maybe stubbed his toe … like, it didn’t register to him,” DeSantis explained, adding, “and I’m like, that is really, really cold.”

DeSantis also drew the dichotomy between what Florida is doing compared with California. Nineteen states, including California, and the District of Columbia allow illegal aliens to obtain driver’s licenses. Licenses in California granted to illegal alien residents should say “federal limits apply,” which would prohibit the individuals from boarding a plane or entering a secure federal building using that ID. 

“What we’ve said is, we’re not giving licenses if you’re here illegally. We’re not giving ID cards,” the Florida governor explained. Those living in Florida currently must prove that they are in the country legally in order to get a driver’s license. The state also does not recognize as valid some types of driver’s licenses from several blue states because of a law DeSantis signed that took effect in 2023.  

“They invite people to come illegally. They provide benefits. They provide a lot of different things. I mean, honestly, some of them get treated better than blue-collar Americans out there with their policies,” DeSantis said.

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