Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan.
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Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan criticized southern governors who have sent migrants to other states.
Hogan specifically called out Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who flew and bused migrants.
Hogan, a potential 2024 contender, called for a “bipartisan common sense solution” on immigration.
Maryland’s Republican Gov. Larry Hogan criticized Governors Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott for their “terrible idea” of relocating migrants from southern states.
Despite opposition, governors from Florida and Texas have flown and bused migrants to northern cities and states, including New York City, Washington, DC, and Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.
“I thought it was a mistake to basically do publicity stunts of busing people from the border into other states,” Hogan said during a speech last week at the “Politics & Eggs” event in Manchester, New Hampshire.
During his keynote speech, he discussed the need for a “bipartisan, commonsense solution” that secures the border and finds “a pathway to citizenship,” suggesting migrants could be the answer to America’s labor shortage by doing jobs that “Americans don’t want to do.”
“I think the federal government is failing in that regard, but I thought it was a mistake to basically, I think, do publicity stunts of busing people from the border up to other states,” Hogan said, adding that some migrants dropped off in Washington, DC, have crossed into Maryland.
Hogan added that DeSantis was inspired to fly migrants to northern states after Abbott started busing them in April.
“Gov. DeSantis, who had nothing to do with the issue, after Gov. Abbott was doing it in Texas, he went to Texas and grabbed 50 people and sent them to Martha’s Vineyard as a publicity stunt,” Hogan said. “I think it’s a terrible idea. Let’s address the problem rather than trying to get on TV. It is not a serious discussion or a good solution.”
Hogan will finish his second and final term as Maryland’s governor in January and has said he wants to be “in position” to run for president in 2024, should he choose to, Insider previously reported.