“As president, I am going to deputize state and localities,” the Florida governor said during an interview with CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Jan. 7 when asked about the roles of federal and local authorities over immigration.
“State and localities have the authority to enforce immigration laws, as long as they’re upholding the law,” he added.
The ongoing border crisis deepens as the number of non-detained illegal immigrants crossing the southern border reaches a historical high with over 6 million, according to a new report from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
During the interview, Mr. DeSantis noted that immigration is “a federal issue, a federal interest. But states and localities should absolutely be able to supplement the federal government.”
He continued: “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.”
The 2024 GOP presidential hopeful said he wanted to enforce strict measures on the southern border, following the same principle as the Florida law enforcement help Coast Guard deport illegal immigrants back to their country of origin.
Last week, in an op-ed published in the Des Moines Register, Mr. DeSantis said he would declare a national border emergency on his first day of presidency, “shut down all illegal entries,” and implement strict measures to address illegal immigration.
“I will end the abuse of parole authority being used to usher in thousands of illegal immigrants monthly. And I will fully empower Border Patrol and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to deport those with no legitimate right to be here,” he said.
He also promised to build the border wall and grant the states authority to enforce immigration laws.
In the article, Mr. DeSantis criticized President Joe Biden for the border crisis. “This crisis has reached unprecedented levels under President Joe Biden, who has failed to fulfill his constitutional oath to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. Biden would not have been able to get away with letting in 8 million illegal aliens if we had a border wall,” he wrote.
Mr. DeSantis has taken a number of measures over illegal immigration, calling it “a persistent problem” of his “entire adult life.”
In May, he signed the “toughest” illegal immigration bill in the country, under which $12 million was allocated to continue the Unauthorized Alien Transport Program to relocate illegal immigrants to so-called sanctuary states. The bill also enhances penalties for human smuggling.
Massive Influx of Illegal Immigrants
In its December 2023 report, ICE highlighted that the number of non-detained illegal immigrants inside the United States is now at 6.2 million, a 30 percent increase compared to the 4.7 million reported in 2022. By comparison, the number of illegal immigrants on the non-detained rolls was 3.26 million in 2020 and 3.6 million in 2021.The number of detained illegal immigrants also rose, the report shows. This figure rose from 26,299 in 2022 to 36,845 in 2023.
The report also shows, in 2023, authorities deported over 142,000 illegal immigrants, nearly double from the year before.
In fiscal year 2023, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data show that its agents encountered a record-setting 2.48 million illegal immigrants at the southern border.
In November, the CBP reported an historical high month, recording 242,418 encounters at the southern border.
Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas last week said more than 70 percent of illegal immigrants are being released into U.S. communities after an initial arrest.
