Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday proposed a number of right-wing immigration policies that would use deadly force against suspected drug traffickers and others who break through the border wall “with hostile intent.” raised the idea of exercising
“Of course you use deadly force,” DeSantis said after an election event in the small Texas border city of Eagle Pass on a sweltering morning. “If we get rid of the few cartel operatives who are plotting it, we don’t have to worry about it anymore,” he added. They would eventually be “stone-cold dead,” he said.
He declined to say how border agents and other law enforcement officials determine whether people crossing the border are smuggling drugs. He said only that if “someone breaks through the border wall” and “shows hostile intent or hostile behavior, we must be able to respond with appropriate use of force.”
DeSantis’ proposal was part of a number of plans he unveiled to serve as an escalation of the Republican message at the border and to match former President Donald J. Trump’s hardline immigration stance. Privately suggested shooting migrants in the leg during his administration.
If elected, DeSantis said he would seek to destroy some pillars of U.S. immigration law, such as the automatic grant of citizenship to those born in the United States.
And having state and local law enforcement officers “fully deputized” in states like Texas to arrest immigrants and deport them to Mexico (now under the authority of the federal government) is a coercive force. He said he intends to detain immigrant children indefinitely despite the court order. Severe restrictions on practice. He also promised to stop “fake asylum claims”.
While these policies are sure to appeal to conservative voters in the Republican presidential primary, they are likely to run into legal hurdles and could test the limits of the president’s powers.The Constitution is believed to guarantee natural citizenship, and the Supreme Court Reigned in 2012 States cannot enact their own immigration policies.
DeSantis also argued that the country needs tough new immigration rules because current immigration rules encourage dangerous border crossings and mistreatment of immigrant children, but his proposals Some may endanger migrants, such as the use of “lethal force” against people who mutilate. Beyond the border wall.
“If you do it once, they won’t do it again,” he said.
In a news release, his campaign said he would follow “appropriate rules of engagement” that would apply to “anyone seeking to smuggle drugs into the United States.” (The vast majority of drugs are smuggled in commercial vehicles passing through official ports of entry, not by immigrants, according to U.S. border officials.)
Another plan proposed by Mr. DeSantis, which would require certain asylum seekers to wait in Mexico, was previously adopted by Mr. Trump and has been criticized for forcing immigrants to reside in Mexico. I’m in. bad tent camping Some have reportedly been sexually assaulted, kidnapping and torture.
Mr. DeSantis has made immigration a centerpiece of his campaign, but so far he has given little specifics. Other policy proposals he announced on Monday include:
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Send troops to “support” the border guards until the wall is complete.
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Crack down on drug cartel activity in Mexico, including by blocking precursor chemicals used in drug production from “flowing into Mexican ports” if the Mexican government does not take action to stop them.
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Detain all immigrants who cross the border without permission until an immigration court hearing. (Such a policy would probably require the creation of a large new prison system.)
“These are ideas that have rightly been classified as radical and extremist for a very long time,” said Aaron Thorne, senior attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project’s Cross-Border Program.
Monday’s policy rollout will see DeSantis, who trails Trump, about 30 percentage points He was trying to outsmart the former president on immigration in national polls. DeSantis argues that “stop the invasion” is a hallmark of the American far-right, but he is the most likely candidate to enact a conservative immigration policy.he has defendant “I’m going to run left,” Trump said.
But some voters who met Mr. DeSantis Monday at the concrete-block and steel-framed Foreign War Veterans’ Post in Eagle Pass said they were still likely to vote for Mr. Trump.
“He’s Trump 2.0, but this is not his time,” said John Sasano, 60, a former Eagle Path teacher and former self-described Democrat. “I would like to see him become vice president.”
Sandy Bradley, 66, a former government worker, traveled with two friends from the nearby border town of Del Rio to listen to Mr. DeSantis, buying a celebratory cowboy hat at a Walmart along the way. “I think he’ll catch up,” she said, adding that Mr. DeSantis seems to share Christian values.
She added that she wanted a candidate who would deal with illegal immigration and “stop all influxes.”
DeSantis spoke directly from the event at a ranch on the Rio Grande just outside town. Texas had just recently built a corrugated wire fence in an area frequented by immigrants.
“This is an ongoing problem,” ranch owner Ruben Garibay said. Garibay wearing a black cowboy hat and speaking in the shade of a tree. The temperature approached 100 degrees Fahrenheitsaid it had agreed to host DeSantis but had not yet decided which candidate it would endorse. “It’s still early in the game,” he said.
Trump first called stay in mexico The policy was later rescinded by the Biden administration. He also proposed abolishing natural citizenship during his first election campaign, neglected to do so while in office, and recently renewed those calls as candidates. And, of course, he ran for the southern border wall in 2016, which propelled him to the White House.
On Monday, Trump said on his social media sites that DeSantis’ “sole purpose of this visit is the fact that he will do everything I have done to create the strongest border ever in the United States.” was to repeat the history. “
As governor, Mr. DeSantis last month sent hundreds of Florida law enforcement officers and the Florida National Guard to Texas, accusing President Biden of failing to secure the border. similar efforts In 2021, ahead of Mr. DeSantis’ re-election.
DeSantis also signed the bill this year. crack down on illegal immigration This was considered one of the toughest measures in the country. He also announced that he had formed a national coalition of more than 90 local sheriffs who said they would band together to combat gang activity and illegal drugs, which they say are the result of the Biden administration’s border policies. (Only a few sheriffs are from border states.)
Some immigration analysts questioned the feasibility of Mr. DeSantis’ proposals, suggesting they were driven by the political imperatives of the presidential campaign.
“Most of the proposal is the usual washed-out list of Republican issues that have not been successful in Congress or in the public courts,” said Luis Descipio, a political scientist at the University of California, Irvine. School political scientist Luis Descipio said. The idea of abolishing birthright citizenship, among other proposals. “The aim is probably not to be a serious policy debate, but rather to focus on issues that are weak points for Biden and sensitive for Trump.”
And Jenny Murray, president of the National Immigration Forum, a nonprofit that advocates immigration policies that meet economic and national security needs, noted the difficulty of implementing Mr. DeSantis’ plan.
“Deporting huge numbers of immigrants would be costly and extremely harmful, especially in times of historical labor shortages,” she said.
Miriam Jordan Contributed to a report from Los Angeles.
