Global Courant
EAGLE PASS, Texas — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday released the first formal policy of his presidential campaign, a slew of immigration-related proposals that his team labeled “No Excuses” — a reference to what it sees as a failure of former President Donald Trump to fulfill his promises.
The rollout comes as DeSantis targets immigration as a way to hit Trump from the right — while also criticizing President Joe Biden’s policies. On Sunday night, DeSantis also toured the Texas border, where he authorized the dispatch of 1,100 members of the Florida Police Department and National Guard.
DeSantis, trailing Trump by wide margins in national polls, vows to send Navy and Coast Guard resources to prevent fentanyl-related Chinese precursor chemicals from reaching Mexican ports, “if the Mexican government doesn’t step in” to help. The US has never taken this action before.
He insists he will work with Panama to “close” the Darien Gap – a lawless swath of jungle where migrants from Central America make the perilous journey to the US
A longtime refrain among Republicans, DeSantis also said he will end what is known as “catch and release” – the process by which migrants are released into the US while they await their asylum process – and the “Remain in Mexico” policy will recover. , which President Joe Biden’s administration ended.
DeSantis also wants to increase pay for Border Patrol agents to increase recruitment, with the goal of hiring former military and police officers in U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He plans to end birthright, the policy whereby children of undocumented immigrants born in the US automatically become US citizens.
DeSantis said he will strengthen penalties for human trafficking and cut funding to nongovernmental organizations “that encourage mass migration.” His administration would also penalize and restrict visas from countries that do not accept deportees, and declare Mexican drug cartels transnational criminal organizations.
After Florida passed a sweeping immigration law last month that goes into effect July 1, tightening E-verify requirements for businesses with more than 25 employees, DeSantis said he plans to do the same at the federal level.
Unlike Trump, he is not saying Mexico will pay for the border wall. Instead, his campaign claims that DeSantis will “use every dollar available to him as president and every dollar he can squeeze out of Congress to get it done.” DeSantis also said he will tax remittances from undocumented immigrants, with exceptions for U.S. citizens and legally resident foreigners.
DeSantis made a separate border trip to Arizona this month, but that was billed as an official state visit, not a campaign stop. While in Texas on Monday, DeSantis also stopped by a Veterans of Foreign Wars hall to speak to voters.
“I can tell you as president that we will completely replace all state and local governments to enforce immigration laws,” DeSantis said at the event. “You’re going to be able to have that authority. And we’re not going to let the sanctuaries’ jurisdictions get away with it.”
He also said he believed many asylum applications from migrants were bogus and used to enter the US under false pretenses. He said he would use “executive measures” to crack down on the asylum process, “where we won’t deal with those claims”.
The policy rollout comes as Republicans try to make immigration a major issue in the GOP primary race. In recent months, Trump has talked about sending “special forces” and using “cyber warfare” to attack cartel leaders if he is re-elected president. More Republican lawmakers are backing the idea of using military force to crack down on Mexican cartels. Members of the House and senators alike have introduced legislation to designate some cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
On Friday, the Justice Department announced charges against China-based chemical manufacturing companies and executives, saying the Drug Enforcement Administration seized more than 200 kilograms of fentanyl-related chemical precursors during the investigation, an amount that could be enough lethal doses. to cause 25 deaths. million Americans.
In response to DeSantis’ rollout of policies on Monday, the Trump campaign highlighted its own immigration plans, including issuing an executive order to end birthright citizenship, build more of the border wall, title 42 and reassign law enforcement to immigration enforcement. The Trump campaign also said the former president intends to “carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history” and deploy the US Navy to impose a full embargo on the drug cartels.
Trump spokesman Jason Miller tweeted that DeSantis is the “Fisher Price version of President Trumpwhen it comes to immigration, using an image from a 2018 DeSantis campaign ad showing him playing blocks with his daughter to show his support for Trump and his push to build the border wall.
