Florida is hurricane country. Every Floridian knows that. We build our lives here understanding that when the next big storm comes, the state will be there to help us survive it. That trust is now broken.
The DeSantis administration spent $564 million from Florida's emergency disaster fund on immigration enforcement this past fiscal year — 63 cents of every emergency dollar. The fund that's supposed to pay for hurricane rescue, flood response, and disaster recovery now has under $7 million left. Seven million dollars for a state with 22 million people sitting in the middle of the Atlantic hurricane belt. That's not a policy disagreement — that's a crisis waiting to happen. When the next storm makes landfall and families are waiting for help that never comes, it won't matter what anyone's position on immigration is. People will die, and the money will be gone.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management exists for one reason: to protect Floridians when disaster strikes. Right now it can't do that job. I'm asking you to use your position to demand an immediate, full accounting of how emergency funds were spent this year, and to support emergency legislation to replenish the disaster fund before another storm threatens our coastlines. Floridians deserve to know their emergency dollars will actually be there in an emergency.
Please act now to restore Florida's disaster fund so it can protect families when we need it most.
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