Florida spent around $460 million on immigration enforcement-related costs in 2025-2026. The news sparked outrage among Florida residents, who criticized Governor Ron DeSantis for spending so much money on immigration while public sectors such as education are struggling in the Sunshine State.
According to NBC Miami, the Florida Division of Emergency Management recently spent another $45.3 million on costs related to “illegal immigration,” bringing the total to around $460 million during the 2025-26 period. The money was used to pay invoices from 2025, as no further investments in illegal immigration enforcement have been allowed since February 2026.
This emergency fund, which was originally created to handle natural disasters, has received $4.77 billion from lawmakers since 2022. Beginning in January 2023, however, Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency over illegal immigration and started using the funds for enforcement-related costs. At the time of this report, the fund’s balance stood at only $199 million.
Florida Residents React to Governor’s Spending on Immigration Enforcement
The data on how much money the Florida government is spending did not sit well with locals, who slammed the governor: “Everything DeSantis touches costs Florida taxpayers’ money,” one said. Others joked that the Republican Party often proclaims itself “the party of fiscal responsibility” while spending large amounts of money on immigration enforcement.
Others were seemingly angry at how the government chooses to spend the money: “DeSantis is sucking up to Trump. Good use of taxpayer money. Would be wasted on schools or public works,” someone said sarcastically. Another wrote, “So we’ll just cut more education funding so we can pay to extradite all our non-criminal food workers.”
Some Florida residents were curious about how it’s possible to spend so much money on immigration enforcement. One of them asked: “I know there is no chance, but seeing an itemized bill would be interesting. Like, how could it possibly cost this much?” Someone else responded: “It’s all a grift. The per-person-per-night cost of the Alligator Alcatraz seems to be as much as the Waldorf Astoria,” referring to the so-called Alligator Alcatraz, which is reportedly shutting down due to high costs.
As Floridians complain about how the government is spending money, immigration remains a key issue heading into the upcoming midterms, with Republicans largely supporting stricter enforcement and Democratic voters generally not prioritizing it.
