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Is the DeSantis Border Plan Realistic?

Guy Benson
Guy Benson  |  June 27, 2023 2:05 PM

The DeSantis presidential campaign unveiled its border security plan yesterday, coinciding with the governor's visit to the US-Mexico boundary.  It is essentially diametrically opposed to the Biden administration's policy, which has fueled a years-long crisis of historic severity.  Sarah highlighted Team DeSantis' video priming the pump for the announcement, featuring a theme of "no excuses" -- a not-so-subtle reference to what the campaign will argue are unfulfilled border security promises made by Donald Trump.

In case you missed it, here it is, starting with a heavy dose of showcasing how catastrophic Biden's approach has been:

Fox's Bill Melugin summarized multi-point plan rolled out by DeSantis:

Julio filled in some of the blanks yesterday, publishing the full set of bullets.  If you didn't see them yet, you can read them for yourself:

  • DeSantis will end catch-and-release. If you cross illegally, you will be detained until your hearing date.  
  • ...will reimpose Remain in Mexico. If you arrive at a port of entry on the US-Mexico border claiming asylum, you will not enter the United States while your claim is being processed.

  • ...will increase Border Patrol pay to boost recruiting and ensure the Border Patrol has the necessary staffing to stop crossings.    

  • ...will have DHS conduct a recruitment campaign targeting former military members and police officers for positions at CBP and ICE. 

  • ...will take action to end the idea that the children of illegal aliens are entitled to birthright citizenship if they are born in the United States. Dangling the prize of citizenship to the future offspring of illegal immigrants is a major driver of illegal migration. It is also inconsistent with the original understanding of 14th Amendment, and DeSantis will force the courts and Congress to finally address this failed policy. 

  • ...will close the Flores loophole that incentivizes child trafficking.

  • ...will tax remittances from illegal aliens, with exemptions for U.S. citizens and lawfully present foreign nationals, and penalize countries attempting evasion. 

  • ...will end the use of Notices to Report and any government funding for non-citizen travel.  

  • He will end the abuse of prosecutorial discretion and parole authority in immigration-related cases and deport criminal aliens. 
  • ...will work with Congress and through further executive actions to strengthen and enforce E-Verify.  

  • ...will defund and prosecute entities that aid or conspire to violate U.S. immigration laws.

  • ...will seek changes from Congress to strengthen penalties for human trafficking, smuggling, and reoccurring illegal reentry.  

  • ...will deport visa overstays. 

  • ...will allow ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers to do their jobs and focus on illegal alien entries under Biden’s border crisis and those with criminal records.  

  • ...will cease funding the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and international organizations engaged in facilitating illegal alien processing, human smuggling, and encouraging mass migration on behalf of the Biden administration while seeking to reprogram that money for ICE operations.  

  • ...will direct the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security to reinstate Asylum Cooperative Agreements with Northern Triangle Countries immediately.  

  • ...will seek changes to give immigration judges summary disposition authority and require DOJ to greatly narrow conditions for continuance, motions, and administrative appeals.  

  • ...will sanction and restrict visas of countries who do not accept deportees.  

  • ...will work with Panama to close the Darien Gap to prevent future caravans from South American and prevent Chinese control of the Panama Canal.  

  • ...will establish priorities under the Development Finance Corporation to seek areas of opportunity with returned workforces in Central and South America for supply chain nearshoring and cooperative agreements to end migration patterns.  

  • ...will also seek additional resources for CBP personnel and technology on America’s northern border.  

A number of these items are under the sole discretion and authority of the executive branch, and could be implemented quickly.  Some may involve negotiations with foreign leaders, including one who is openly and personally hostile to DeSantis, which could present challenges -- but the US has heavy leverage, which Biden generally can't or won't exploit.  And politically speaking, I don't suspect this will hurt the Florida Governor too much in a GOP primary:

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Regardless, just as Biden's DHS can use discretion to deprioritize all sorts of enforcement actions and deportations (including of illegal immigrants convicted of an assortment of additional crimes), a DeSantis DHS could chart a much more aggressive course.  This wouldn't just represent a dramatic shift in policy; it would drastically alter the incentives and cost-benefit analysis considered by large numbers of would-be illegal immigrants.  These unilateral actions unto themselves would go a long way in changing the present, unsustainable, unacceptably lawless trajectory.

Other components of the plan will require Congressional approval, as the press release acknowledges in several places.  That's where matters could get tricky.  What might be achieved with a Republican-controlled Congress would look quite a bit different than what might be feasible if Democrats hold at least one legislative chamber.  There's also the looming prospect of the filibuster (Democrats will very quickly regain respect for that 'Jim Crow' tool if they're in the minority), which always complicates matters.  I understand that a presidential campaign doesn't need to address every governing reality or intricacy when laying out a vision, but assessing a proposal's prospects for real world success requires such analysis.  DeSantis likes to boast of his effectiveness in Florida, and understandably so.  But operating with GOP super majorities makes things a lot easier.  He almost certainly wouldn't have that luxury -- which, granted, he helped build in the Sunshine State -- in Washington, DC if he's elected, even with coattails.  He might be more deft and focused in working with Congress than other presidents have been, but DC will be markedly different than Tallahassee.

Finally, there's the question of birthright citizenship, which Trump talked a lot about, then did nothing.  I was critical of Trump's big talk on the subject because I thought it was a far-fetched distraction from real solutions -- which Trump's administration did a good job of implementing, especially toward the end of his term.  It's true that the United States is one of a relative handful of countries around the world that grant citizenship to children born on its soil, with very limited exceptions), and it's therefore not crazy or racist to debate or question the practice, it also represents standing US Supreme Court precedent dating back well over a century.  Uprooting this precedent would require an unexpected landmark legal ruling at the highest level, or quite possibly a constitutional amendment.  On the scale of plausibility, this one is probably the most remote on DeSantis' list, and he should be careful about attaching a 'no excuses' slogan to an unlikely policy change.  My overall response to the policy proposals is that if DeSantis manages to get himself elected and implement even half of what he's laid out, that would be a night-and-day improvement over what has been unfolding at the border since January 2021.  I'll leave you with this: