DeSantis unveils an aggressive immigration and border security policy that largely mirrors Trump’s
EAGLE PASS, Texas — Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis promised to end birthright citizenship, finish building the southern border wall and send U.S. forces into Mexico to combat drug cartels as part of an aggressive — and familiar — immigration policy proposal he laid out Monday in a Texas border city.
The sweeping immigration plan, the Florida governor’s first detailed policy release as a 2024 contender, represents a long-established wish list of Republican immigration proposals that largely mirrors former President Donald Trump’s policies. Much of DeSantis’ plan faces tall odds, requiring the reversal of legal precedents, approval from other countries, or even an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Still, DeSantis projected confidence on Monday, excoriating leaders in both political parties for failing to stop what he called an immigrant “invasion.” He addressed his plans while touring Eagle Pass, Texas, a community that has emerged as a major corridor for illegal border crossings during Joe Biden’s presidency.
“I have listened to people in D.C. for years and years and years, going back decades — Republicans and Democrats — always chirping about this yet never actually bringing the issue to a conclusion,” DeSantis told an audience of roughly 100 residents, including local Democratic officials, school teachers and mothers of children lost to fentanyl overdoses. “What we’re saying is no excuses on this.”
The DeSantis campaign has promised to release more detailed policy rollouts in the coming weeks. But in leading with immigration, the two-term Florida governor is prioritizing a divisive issue that has long been a focus of the GOP’s most conservative voters. The pro-immigrant group America’s Voice condemned DeSantis for making “invasion” references that have been used by white supremacists.
Yet voters in the political middle have warmed to more aggressive immigration policies in recent months as illegal border crossing surged. Overall, 6 in 10 adults in the U.S. disapprove of Biden’s handling of immigration, according to a recent AP-NORC poll.
Still, it may be difficult for DeSantis to separate himself on immigration from the many other Republicans seeking the 2024 presidential nomination — especially Trump, the front-runner.
That didn’t stop him from trying.
Speaking from a podium emblazoned with the words, “No Excuses” and “Stop the Invasion,” DeSantis noted that there were more immigrants deported in the first four years of the Obama administration than in Trump’s first term.
He also repeated references to the unfinished border wal.
