President Trump backs governors initiating restrictions on traveling New Yorkers
President Donald Trump endorsed the actions of governors Friday to crack down on travelers from states hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic in requiring them to go into 14-day quarantine.
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"We are very strong on people not leaving, especially certain states, and going to other states where they have less of a problem," Trump said at his daily press conference. "You are hearing constantly about people leaving New York and going down to Florida, and New York is obviously a hotspot."
He added, "We're not playing games."
The president said he supports quarantines and offered praise for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who earlier this week ordered anyone arriving in his state from New York and New Jersey to self-quarantine for 14 days.
"He was not happy with the people coming down from New York," Trump said.
In the past, Trump has said domestic travel restrictions are on the table while saying he wasn't yet ready to implement them. On Friday, he indicated that he doesn't object to the actions of particular states.
In one of the most aggressive actions, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo said Friday that she will order the state National Guard to go door-to-door in coastal towns starting this weekend to look for recently arrived people from New York. They will then inform visitors of the quarantine order.
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In addition, Rhode Island's state police have been pulling over motorists whose cars have New York license plates. Their contact information is collected and they are informed of the quarantine.
One woman, Mary Patrick, who has a summer home in the town of Misquamicut, Rhode Island, said an officer recently came to the door, the Providence Journal reported.
The officer “was very nice about it,” Patrick said. “He said a neighbor had called and said we just moved back in, which wasn’t true. We’ve been here for about three weeks. But he wanted us to know we had to stay home for 14 days."
Rhode Island State police are creating a "welcome center" to acquire information to allow them to track travelers in cars with New York license plates. The ACLU is warning this it's not constitutional to stop cars simply because they have New York plates.
Governors in Texas, Florida, Maryland and South Carolina this week ordered people arriving from the New York area – including New Jersey and Connecticut – and other virus hot spots to self-quarantine for at least 14 days upon arrival.
New York is the epicenter of the pandemic in the U.S. There are more than 44,000 confirmed cases, including more than 25,000 in New York City, according to the New York Department of Health. At least 450 people in the state have died after contracting the virus. Nationwide, more than 100,000 coronavirus cases have been confirmed, touching every state.
Earlier this month, Trump broadened a travel ban on foreigners from China to include Europe. He ordered tighter restrictions on the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada. He said earlier this month that domestic travel restrictions were under consideration.
"We hope we don’t have to," Trump said at that time. "We think that hopefully, we won’t have to do that. But it’s certainly something we talk about every day. We haven’t made that decision."
Contributing: Associated Press; Tom Mooney, Providence Journal
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: President Trump backs travel restrictions on New Yorkers
