Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said during an interview over the weekend that if he is elected, as president that he will deputize state and local law enforcement officials to begin enforcing immigration laws as part of a broad effort to crack down on illegal immigration.
DeSantis made the remarks during a Sunday interview on CBS News’ “Face The Nation” with Margaret Brennan while discussing the historic flood of illegal aliens into the U.S.
“Of course it’s a federal issue, a federal interest, but states and localities should absolutely be able to supplement the federal government,” he said. “And we’re in a situation now where the federal government asserts, under the supremacy clause of the Constitution, that they have the sole dominion over enforcing immigration laws, but they’re choosing not to faithfully enforce immigration laws.”
“As president, I am going to deputize state and localities,” he continued. “I am going to say, state and localities have the authority to enforce immigration laws as long as they’re upholding the law. It’s one thing if a state was trying to frustrate the law. Of course, under the supremacy clause, they couldn’t do that. But that’s not what we have here. It’s the federal government that’s frustrating the imposition – the enforcement of the law. It’s the states that just want the law enforced.”
The Republican presidential candidate said that Florida law enforcement has already helped the Coast Guard stop illegal aliens coming into the state from islands in the Caribbean and that simply enforcing the laws in an immediate manner “had a huge, huge deterrent effect because people are not going to want to go over those choppy waters knowing that most likely they’re just going to end up back where they came.”
“It’s the same principle applied to the southern border. People know if they just get to the border they’re going to get free passes into the United States,” he continued. “So, they’re going to be willing to pay thousands of dollars to coyotes and cartels. If we have a new sheriff in town on this and they know they’re going back to their home country you’re going to see a dramatic decrease in people that will even try this voyage.”
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