Report: DeSantis to Unveil Immigration Policy Monday

Republican 2024 presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to unveil his immigration policy in Texas on Monday, The Hill reports.

“[President] Joe Biden’s open border policies have destroyed our sovereignty, and Ron DeSantis will not rest until it is restored,” Andrew Romeo, a DeSantis campaign spokesman, said in a statement to The Hill. “He will stop the invasion and secure the border once and for all, and there will be no excuses.”

According to the report, the GOP hopeful will announce what his immigration policy will be if elected during a stop in the southern border town of Eagle Pass, Texas. He is scheduled to ride along there with border patrol agents Sunday night to witness the situation.

DeSantis has developed an immigration “hardliner” stance after joining other red state governors in shipping illegal migrants from the border to blue states and cities that claim to be “sanctuaries.”

Just last month, DeSantis signed a sweeping immigration bill for Florida that bolsters his relocation program and limits illegal migrants’ use of some social services, the Associated Press reported on May 10.

The legislation, sent to DeSantis by the GOP-controlled state legislature, provides $12 million to support his efforts to send migrants to other parts of the country, much like he did last year when he flew a group of about 50 illegal migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.

That move in September 2022 led Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom to call for an investigation by the Department of Justice into DeSantis, and Florida, for “kidnapping” the migrants, California’s Desert Sun newspaper reported June 6.

Newsom is angry at DeSantis, blaming him for two recent flights totaling 36 illegal migrants that landed in the state’s capital city of Sacramento earlier this month.

“You small, pathetic man,” the news outlet reported that Newsom tweeted at DeSantis following the incident. “This isn’t Martha’s Vineyard. Kidnapping charges?”

The national polling website FiveThirtyEight shows DeSantis is running a distant second to former President Donald Trump in the most recent average of several national polls, 52.5% to 21.3%.

Since announcing his White House bid, DeSantis said that he plans to complete Trump’s border wall to combat the large influx of illegal immigration since Biden took office in January 2021, The Hill reported.

The report said that DeSantis is claiming the backing of a coalition of 90 sheriffs for his positions on the issue.