Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis: Biden’s Open Border Policy Is ‘Intentional’

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis answers questions from the media, March 7, 2023, at the state Ca
AP Photo/Phil Sears, File
Elizabeth Weibel

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) criticized President Joe Biden’s open border policies for creating the ongoing migration crisis at the southern border, stating that it was “intentional.”

While speaking during a press conference on Wednesday on the sixty-third anniversary of the Bay of Pigs, Ron DeSantis signed a bill that would ensure students in Florida learn the “truth about communism.”

When asked about legislation being filed in Florida that would allow for illegal immigrants in the state to be deported, DeSantis said he would sign it.

“Now here’s the thing on that. They’ll say the federal government is supreme when it comes to immigration, which is fine. But, here’s the thing,” DeSantis explained. “If the federal government has a law, and they have Constitutional authority to enact that law, then for a state to come and do the opposite, that violates the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. But, that’s not what’s happening with Texas.”

In January, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state of Texas challenging State Bill 4 (SB4) under the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution, according to a press release from the DOJ.

“We have laws on the books that the federal government isn’t enforcing, and in fact, they are intentionally violating,” DeSantis said. “So, all Texas is saying is, ‘We want to enforce the federal laws. We want to uphold. Biden, you won’t uphold your oath of office, we’ll do it.'”

A short-lived ruling from the Supreme Court that allowed Texas SB4 Immigration Law to go into effect — letting local and state law enforcement arrest, detain, and prosecute illegal aliens crossing the border into Texas — was put on hold in March.

DeSantis added that he believes “states have every right to do that.”

“Now, Texas, I think is in a position because you have people coming across the border. They should be able to just return them across the border,” DeSantis continued. “It becomes more complicated if you gotta fly people back to their home country or do that.”

Groups of migrants of different nationalities arrive at the Rio Grande, to cross it and surrender to the American authorities, since elements of the Texas National Guard no longer prevent their passage in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on March 4, 2024. (Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“I’ve been down at that border. There’s people coming from all over the world,” DeSantis added. “We have no idea who these people are. Look at like, Maduro, he’s released people from prison and sent them to the southern border. You look at the people coming from the Middle East. You look at people — how do we have tens of thousands of people coming from communist China showing up at our southern border? Really? So, I think it’s been a huge, huge disaster, but it’s intentional.”

“This is something that has been done because of policy,” DeSantis continued. “You know, there are times things happen. It’s not like you can control everything as a leader, but that is one. Not only controlling your borders — is that just a basic attribute of sovereignty — he instituted policies that have created this mess to begin with.”

Since January 2023, Florida has prevented thousands of illegal aliens from entering the U.S.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) recently signed legislation into effect that allows the state to deport migrants with outstanding deportations or who have previously been denied admission into the U.S.

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