US Governor Ron DeSantis says Andrew Tate is not 'welcome' in Florida

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis stated that the Tate brothers (Andrew and Tristan) are not welcome in the state. This comes after they arrived in Fort Lauderdale on a private plane.

At a press conference on Thursday, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis said that Attorney General James Uthmeier is looking into what "state-level entry points and jurisdictions" can address the issue of the two influencers entering the United States. The Tate brothers were arrested in Romania in December 2022 and have been charged with crimes including rape, human trafficking, sexual exploitation of women, money laundering, and forming an organized crime group.

They were supposed to remain in Romania while the case was being heard. However, it is understood that the Trump administration lobbied to allow them to travel. The Financial Times reported that US officials held telephone conversations with the Romanian government in early February, after which Trump's envoy and former Director of National Intelligence, Richard Grenell, raised the matter with the Romanian Foreign Minister at the Munich Security Conference in mid-February.

DeSantis said he was unaware of the Tate brothers' arrival in Florida until it was reported in the news. "The fact is, Florida doesn't welcome that type of conduct. I don't know how it ended up happening. We had no involvement, and we received no notification," DeSantis said. DeSantis has been cracking down on human trafficking in the state and approved $4.9 million in the 2024-2025 budget to combat human trafficking.

Ironically, DeSantis himself has faced accusations of human trafficking for allegedly misusing funds to charter flights to transport migrants from Texas to Martha's Vineyard. The Tate brothers are known for their far-right and misogynistic ideologies and have millions of followers on social media, with Andrew having a larger following. British police have also issued arrest warrants for the brothers, accusing them of rape and human trafficking.

In addition, an American woman residing in Florida filed a civil lawsuit against the Tate brothers this month, accusing them of forcing her into sex work. She stated that the brothers defamed her after she testified against them in Budapest. Last summer, Andrew was accused of being one of the main instigators of spreading false information about the perpetrator of a stabbing attack that killed three children. Andrew claimed that the perpetrator was a Muslim and an illegal immigrant, even though he had publicly converted to Islam in 2022. This false information led to racist and Islamophobic riots across the UK.