DeSantis: 'Turn the Screws' on Sanctuary Jurisdictions

Unveiling his 2024 presidential campaign border policy Monday in Eagle Pass, Texas, Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis vowed to "turn the screws on sanctuary jurisdictions" and "kneecap the cartels."

"We're gonna turn the screws on sanctuary jurisdictions," DeSantis said at a campaign event, which aired live on Newsmax. "They get a lot of money. All these localities and states get a lot of money from the feds. They get grants. They get all that.

"You know, we'll make sure to turn the screws so that it pays to follow the law, and it doesn't pay to violate the law."

It is not just about money with the Democrat-run cities and states that are "virtue signaling" with their open immigration policies in violation of U.S. law — and in defiance of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — it is also about public safety, according to DeSantis.

"What will happen is you'll have somebody who's in the country illegally, they'll commit a serious crime, they'll serve a prison sentence; when they're done with their prison sentence, a state or a locality, that sanctuary will not notify ICE that they're getting out of prison, because if they do ICE can take them and send them back," DeSantis lamented.

"Instead they release them back into the community. How is that something that's acceptable? It's not."

President Joe Biden has taken the "virtue signaling" that started by anti-Trump forces during the Trump administration to whole new depths and the open borders must be closed, DeSantis vowed.

"Joe Biden's dereliction of duty has made our southern border a disaster zone," DeSantis said. "The Biden administration is the critical link in an illegal transnational human smuggling syndicate.

"For decades, leaders from both parties have produced empty promises on border security, and now it is time to act to stop the invasion once and for all.

"As president, I will declare a national emergency on day one and will not rest until we build the wall, shut down illegal entry, and win the war against the drug cartels. No excuses. We will get it done."

A key piece of DeSantis' plan is declaring the Mexico drug and human trafficking cartels Transnational Criminal Organizations in a federal order-led effort to "kneecap the cartels."

"We're going to be leaning in against these drug cartels," DeSantis said. "I think that they are killing a lot of Americans. They are effectively in control of this border to begin with, and part of the reason it's gotten this way is they don't get any pushback.

"They're able to just do this with impunity, and so we will designate them either Transnational Criminal organization or foreign terrorist organization. Chip and I are talking about that.

"The bottom line is we're going to give them a designation so that we can unleash more federal power to be able to kneecap the cartels."

Chip refers to his early endorser Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, who once helped run the presidential campaign for Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and is currently active among the House conservatives pushing back against Biden's open border policies.

"Washington's status quo approach to border security is one of the biggest failures of our generation," Roy, speaking before DeSantis, said. "This crisis has decimated ranchers, killed Americans with dangerous narcotics, placed migrants in horrific situations from sex trafficking to death, and placed American national security at risk to China and cartels.

"Texans and our courageous DPS Troopers deserve credit for standing in the breach created by Joe Biden. We need a president in the White House who is not afraid to use the full weight of his office to build the wall, stop the flow, and force Congress to send a bill to sign to fix the laws once and for all.

"Ron DeSantis not only has a strong plan to secure the border — in line with our Texas plan — he has the courage to finally deliver results."

Notably, DeSantis has been one of the leading men in America in forcing sanctuary cities and states to take on the border crisis in their own backyards, having sent migrants to Martha's Vineyard and California.