‘Political attack against Florida’: Gov. DeSantis calls possible White House’s domestic travel ban unconstitutional

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (WCJB) - The White House is reportedly considering domestic restrictions for Florida and other states where there is an increase in coronavirus variants.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis did not mince words in his criticism of the Joe Biden administration’s possible plans.

“I think it’s an absurd report that they would be doing that. I think it would be unconstitutional, it would be unwise and it would be unjust,” DeSantis said during a news conference in Port Charlotte on Thursday. “And if you think about it, restricting the right of Americans to travel freely throughout our country while allowing illegal aliens to pour across the southern border unmolested would be a ridiculous, but very damaging farce.”

In a report done by the Miami Herald , the restrictions would not target a specific state.

“We will oppose it 100%,” DeSantis said. “It would not be based in science, it would purely be a political attack against the people of Florida… Any attempt to restrict or lockdown Florida by the federal government would be an attack on our state done purely for political purposes.”

A White House spokesperson says, “there have been no decisions made around additional public health measures for domestic travel safety. The administration is continuing to discuss recommendations across the travel space, but no specific decisions are under consideration.”

The CDC has reported 343 infections of the U.K variant in the Sunshine State, known as B.1.1.7, as of Wednesday. California is the only state to come close to that number with 156 cases.

The variants seem to spread more easily, however, experts are still investigating if they cause a more severe COVID-19 infection.

DeSantis, who has continued to push to keep schools and businesses open, continues to say he does not want impose any new restrictions on Florida.

“We’ve had to stand by Floridians throughout time and again and we will do so going forward,” he said. “We will not back down and if anyone tries to harm Floridians or target us, we will respond very swiftly.”

The Florida governor says the COVID-19 situation in the Sunshine State has decreased and the state is in a better position than many other states in the country.

“Since Dec. 1, well over half the country has seen much worse COVID results than here in Florida. But all you have to do too is just look at some of the trends,” he said. “Over the winter, Florida peaked at much less level than we did over the summer months and we were way less per capita than a lot of locked down states that are always cited as being ‘the right way to do it.’”