This plan, the first detailed initiative promoted by the governor of Florida with a view to 2024, constitutes in a long list of impossible objectives of the Republican proposals on immigration and that largely reflect the policies of former president Donald Trump.
DeSantis’s plan faces a high improbability of being carried out because it would require the reversal of legal precedents, the approval of other countries and even an amendment to the United States Constitution.
Still, DeSantis projected a confident image Monday, lashing out at leaders of both political parties for failing to stop what he described as an immigrant “invasion” in a speech to residents of Eagle Pass, Texas, a community turned into a major runner of unauthorized border crossings during the presidency of Joe Biden.
“I’ve heard people in DC for years and years, for decades — Republicans and Democrats — bringing this up, but never really coming to a conclusion on it,” DeSantis told an audience of just 100. “What we are saying is that there are no excuses about this.”
DeSantis’ campaign has promised to release more details about the policy in the coming weeks. But by spearheading immigration, DeSantis is prioritizing a divisive issue that has long interested most conservative GOP voters.
The pro-immigrant group America’s Voice censured DeSantis for making references to an “invasion” that white supremacists have mentioned.
But voters in the political center have come out in favor of tougher immigration policies in recent months in the face of an increase in illegal border crossings.
In total, six in 10 adults in the United States disapprove of President Biden’s handling of immigration, according to a recent AP-NORC poll.
Still, it would be hard for DeSantis to break away from the immigration issue in the face of the other 2024 Republican presidential hopefuls, especially Trump, who is running as the favorite.
But that didn’t stop him from trying.
From a podium that had the phrases “No excuses” and “Stop the invasion,” DeSantis noted that there were more immigrants deported in the first four years of the Barack Obama administration than during the Trump presidency.
And while DeSantis avoided mentioning Trump by name in his speech, his repeated references to the unfinished border wall were a dedicated criticism of the former president. Trump tried but failed to finish a wall along the 1,950-mile (3,140-kilometer) US-Mexico border during his four years in office.
Prior to Monday’s announcement, the DeSantis campaign released merchandise with the words “Build the wall. Without excuses”.
Trump apparently watched his Republican rival’s message on television, describing DeSantis’ comments as “very boring.”
“DeSanto’s speech was just a rehash of all the things I did to have ‘the strongest, most secure border in American history,'” Trump wrote on social media.
Trump emphasized immigration as he delivered the keynote address to hundreds of enthusiastic religious conservatives at the Faith and Liberty Coalition conference in Washington over the weekend. He has vowed to carry out “the nation’s largest border deportation operation” and boasted of having completed more than 300 miles of wall along the southern border during his administration, pledging to build more if he wins another term.
Trump’s policies succeeded in restricting immigration, but the number of people crossing the US-Mexico border continued to rise during his tenure before declining during the COVID-19 pandemic.
And his policies caused gridlock in the immigration system. The number of cases pending in the immigration courts alone went from around 500,000 in June 2016 to 1.3 million at the end of 2020. There were also major human rights issues, particularly with the “Remain in Mexico” program and the separation of the children of their families at the border.
In his plan, DeSantis is embracing many of the same policies.
Like Trump, DeSantis vowed to end the constitutionally enshrined practice that grants citizenship to all babies born on American soil.
Similarly, DeSantis vows to end the policy that currently allows illegally-entered immigrants to be released into the country until their court dates. This is because the federal immigration authorities only have money for 30,000 beds, making it impossible to apprehend everyone who is arrested.
DeSantis also wants to reinstate the Remain in Mexico policy to make asylum seekers wait in Mexico for US immigration court hearings. Such a plan would need Mexico’s approval.
DeSantis further vows to use military force against drug cartels if necessary. It says it would “reserve the right to operate across the border to protect our territory from the activities of Mexican cartels,” according to the plan, which also calls for the US Navy and Coast Guard to block entry of precursor chemicals. in Mexican ports if “the Mexican government does not stop the drug manufacturing of the cartels.”
“We will use all the leverage at our disposal both against Mexico and against the cartels,” he told his audience at Eagle Pass. “If they’re trying to get products into this country and they’re killing our people, you not only have the right, you have the responsibility to fight back.”
FUENTE: Associated Press
