The states are going to be granted the authority to enforce U.S. border law under a President Ron DeSantis, he vowed in an interview this weekend.
"When I'm president, we've already said, we are going to unleash the states; they're going to be equal partners with enforcing immigration law," DeSantis told "The Glenn Beck Podcast." "If somebody comes across the river illegally in Texas, Texas should be able to send them back.
"Why do we need to end up in this big process where people are going to court and all this other stuff? It's absurd. So they should be able to do it."
The Biden administration is forcing its open borders policies on Texas and Arizona, under the pressure and threat of Justice Department opposition to those states just merely attempting to enforce the laws, according to DeSantis.
"I think the reality is, if they did more, they would face the DOJ and all this other stuff," DeSantis said, rejecting the policies under President Joe Biden.
The U.S. government is unlawfully restricting Texas, specifically, and Arizona in part from protecting their own legal residents, DeSantis continued.
"We'll be an administration that'll work hand-in-hand with the states to secure our country," he said. "They're a force multiplier for the federal government.
"People say it's the sole federal responsibility — yeah, if we have strong border policy, a state can't let people in illegally, of course — but if we have a policy, and it's not being enforced fully, why should the states not do it? They should absolutely be able to enforce the law.
"We'll make that happen."
The Biden open-border executive orders are gone on day one under DeSantis, he said, vowing to "declare the border a national emergency," along with a full deportation force that will send back all of the Biden administration's illegals.
"When I get in, they're all going back," DeSantis said.
"So it's already been incalculable. We'll do a big repatriation. And then stop the insane policies.
"Yeah, we'll do the wall, but you shouldn't even entertain these claims where you're giving them a court date in three years. Just have them wait on the other side of the border."
National security is at stake from the millions of illegals streaming in over the southern border, including from hostile regimes and terrorist states, DeSantis warned.
"Is there any way possible that we don't have a terrorist attack in the future that is not linked to people coming across the border? Of course it's going to happen," DeSantis said.
While asylum claims can be legitimate, there has been a penalty for attempting to come into the U.S. illegally, he concluded.
"If you're not going to have a sanction for coming illegally, then you're going to continue to deal with this problem one way or another," he said.
"So that will be a sanction that we're going to enforce. It hasn't been enforced for really many, many decades, probably back all the way to Eisenhower where we really had it strong.
"So, we're going to do that. You have to establish that. We'll work with Texas, we'll work with Arizona, whoever wants to help us to be able to get that job done."
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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