Florida Mayor Suggests Putting Immigrants Up At Trump Hotels

A Florida mayor suggested putting immigrants up in Donald Trump’s hotels after administration officials informed leaders they were planning to fly immigrants from the border to two Democratic counties in the state.

“This is irresponsible policy. To bring hundreds of people here every week without providing the necessary resources to house and feed them is inhumane,” Broward County Mayor Mark Bogen said in a statement. “I would suggest that we bring them to the Trump hotels and ask the president to open his heart and home as well.”

The Department of Homeland Security has begun transporting undocumented immigrant families to cities beyond the U.S.-Mexico border “due to capacity limitations” at Border Patrol stations, a Customs and Border Protection official confirmed on Friday. He did not confirm plans to move migrants to Florida.

But Bogen and Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that they were told to expect two planeloads of immigrants each week, starting in about two weeks. The 270 weekly passengers — about 1,000 each month — would be split between Palm Beach and Broward counties, with no apparent plans to house or feed them.

The counties are Democratic strongholds in the state and among the most populous.

“This is a humanitarian crisis. We will do everything possible to help these people,” Bogen said. “If the president will not provide us with financial assistance to house and feed these people, he will be creating a homeless encampment.”

Trump had previously threatened to release immigrants to so-called sanctuary cities. But the idea was apparently dropped.

Since Dec. 21, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has released roughly 180,000 migrants into the U.S. interior, transporting them by plane, bus or van from the border to other cities in Texas and Southern California.

Love HuffPost? Become a founding member of HuffPost Plus today.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.