Florida Ain’t California: DeSantis Lays Out Official Policy If You’re Blocked In Traffic By Rioters

Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis minced no words when speaking about the rights of citizens if they were surrounded by a mob while in their car.

DeSantis spoke to Dave Rubin of the Rubin Report regarding the anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles, California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, and Florida’s policy regarding civil unrest.

“In terms of the unrest, Florida’s policy is very simple: You have every right to exercise your First Amendment rights to protest and demonstrate,” DeSantis explained. “The minute you cross that line, you are going to be met with serious pushback, and you will be held accountable. We do not tolerate rioting; we do not tolerate civil unrest; we do not tolerate looting; we do not tolerate attacks on law enforcement.”

“And so I know they’re planning stuff for all over the country; they tried to do a little protest in Florida, and they actually just held signs, which is fine, but that’s as far as it goes here,” he continued. “I think the problem in places like California is the authorities at both the local and state level; they’re effectively siding with the people that are causing the unrest. And part of it is because California is the Shangri-La of sanctuary states. They give you drivers’ licenses if you’re an illegal; you get in-state tuition; they pay for your healthcare; they will try to stymie ICE and protect you from having immigration law enforced, And so they’ve been doing this over a number of years and I think have developed a sense of entitlement that somehow, federal laws don’t apply to them because they don’t like them. So you’ve had the mayor, the governor, empower that element, not just now, but for many years …”

Asked what Florida’s policy was when demonstrators crossed the line, DeSantis replied:

The Hamas demonstration, when that was in vogue, they tried to do that in the city of Miami and the Miami PD got them off the street in 13 minutes. They tried to do it in central Florida on a state road and our state highway patrol. they were able to dispatch them in 11 minutes. And so, yes, there is zero tolerance. You have no right to commandeer streets. First of all it’s just wrong. Second of all, that has huge impacts on people’s quality of life. You may have a parent needing to go pick up a child from daycare, from a camp, or from a school. You may have somebody who has a medical issue they need to get, and what, you’re going to clog all the roads?

So we have an absolutely zero tolerance policy for that and we also have a policy that if you’re driving on one of those streets, and a mob comes and surrounds your vehicle and threatens you, you have a right to flee for your safety. And so if you drive off, and you hit one of these people, that’s their fault for impinging on you. You don’t have to sit there and just be a sitting duck and let the mob grab you out of your car and drag you through the streets. You have a right to defend yourself in Florida.

Florida is not playing with its rules on mobs surrounding your car. Take notes, Cali.

Governor @RonDeSantis on @RubinReport

Watch NOW here: https://t.co/HGUYTG8ECc pic.twitter.com/65h1a5LbAi

— The Rubin Report (@RubinReportShow) June 12, 2025