Congressman Byron Donalds (R-FL) threw his full weight behind a controversial Department of Homeland Security proposal on Tuesday, telling Fox Business that a hard pause on immigration is necessary for the United States to “get our house in order.”
In a wide-ranging interview on Varney & Co., the Florida representative connected the proposed travel ban—spearheaded by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem—to the recent killing of a National Guard member in Washington, D.C., and the ongoing strain of illegal immigration on American cities.
“I think the administration’s take on this is the appropriate one,” Donalds told host Stuart Varney. He argued that the security situation has become untenable, explicitly referencing the approach taken during the first Trump administration. “This is why, when President Trump came into office, the first order of business was shutting the border down completely. That promise was made, and that promise was kept.”
READ: Florida Rep. Byron Donalds Blames “Reckless” Biden Admin For Soldier’s Murder
Donalds characterized the move not just as a security measure, but as a logistical necessity following the DC attack involving an Afghan national. “Now it’s about making sure that we really just pause a lot of the immigration into the United States while we get our house in order to a large degree,” he said, voicing support for Secretary Noem’s recent call to bar entry from nations deemed high-risk.
“Nobody’s Really Tracking It”
The conversation pivoted sharply to domestic fiscal oversight, specifically targeting allegations of a $1 billion fraud scheme in Minnesota under Governor Tim Walz. Donalds didn’t mince words regarding the misuse of government funds, blaming a lack of systemic controls for allowing taxpayer money to flow into what he termed “Democrat front groups.”
According to Donalds, the issue is systemic. He described a cycle where groups apply for grants with vague “baseless line items,” only to divert the funds toward unrelated activities because “nobody’s really tracking it.”
“It’s one of the bigger issues in our government… you don’t really have real controls minding the store, per se,” Donalds explained. He suggested that ideological alignment within administrations often greases the wheels for this lack of oversight. “They have people who probably work in the Walz administration who are partial to these groups.”
READ: Trump Unloads On Minnesota Rep. Omar As ‘Garbage,’ Tells Somalis To ‘Go Back’
Treasury Probe and Radicalism Links
Donalds welcomed news that the Treasury Secretary is launching an investigation into the Minnesota matter, calling it a critical step. However, he insisted that the scrutiny must go deeper than just one state.
Drawing a parallel to federal foreign aid, Donalds invoked the Trump administration’s previous review of USAID, suggesting that money intended for humanitarian aid often ends up fueling “radicalism” both abroad and domestically—a concern heightened by reports linking the Minnesota fraud to overseas terror elements like al-Shabaab.
“More needs to come,” Donalds said of the investigations. “There needs to be a lot of oversight on these dollars.”
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