DeSantis’ Hateful Record on Immigration
Ron DeSantis has always been an anti-immigrant extremist while in public office and has enacted draconian legislation against immigrant families during his tenure as Governor of Florida
DeSantis’ Hateful Record on Immigration
Ron DeSantis has consistently adopted an aggressive and punitive stance against immigrants, including employing harmful rhetoric and enacting bigoted legislation to the detriment of Florida’s economic well being. With the recent passage of Senate Bill 1718 – legislation based on DeSantis’s previous executive actions and threats against the Biden administration – Florida is feeling the economic consequences of the governor’s extreme policies. The state is facing work shortages and empty work sites due to increasing fears among immigrant workers in the state. The law has also left employers trying to navigate the incredible amount of “uncertainty” created by the law as economic observers point out that Senate Bill 1718 “could bring Florida’s economy to a halt.”
As DeSantis’ failing campaign continues to plummet in the polls, we can expect more anti-immigrant rhetoric and action from him and his surrogates because that’s what has always defined his record as a politician.
As governor, Ron DeSantis signed anti-immigrant SB 1718 into law.
SB 1718 might be the most anti-immigrant legislation signed into law at the state level in recent history. It requires hospitals to ask patients their immigration status, allows law enforcement to obtain DNA from anyone in custody, bars local funding for community ID programs benefiting the undocumented people, invalidates driver’s licenses from states that give them exclusively to undocumented people, required E-Verify usage by private companies with 25 or more employees and makes it a felony to transport an undocumented person into Florida, even if they are family members.
Prior to the passage of SB 1718, DeSantis has pushed and signed into law other anti-immigrant legislation. In 2019, DeSantis signed into law SB 168, which prohibited all state and local agencies from passing or enforcing ordinances that would protect immigrants from unlawful detention and forced local law enforcement to act as immigration agents and carry out warrantless detainer requests, leaving state and local personnel susceptible to violating the Fourth Amendment and Equal Protection rights of fellow Floridians. A federal court ruled that key sections of Florida’s anti-sanctuary law violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution
In 2020, DeSantis signed a law requiring all government employers and some private businesses to use E-Verify to check the immigration status of new workers but it was mostly unenforceable due to loopholes carved alongside lobbyists from big business groups. This E-Verify provision was strengthened under SB 1718 this year. In 2022, DeSantis signed a law . meant to stop migrant shelters in Florida from caring for unaccompanied children, drawing sharp criticism from religious and business leaders in the state. The legislation deeply divided the Cuban-Americans in Miami-Dade who have a long history of welcoming children.
In a cruel political stunt, Ron DeSantis arranged to have migrants to Martha’s Vineyard in September 2022. The migrants were misled on work, food, and housing opportunities, and misinformed on their destination. They were given wrong information on how to follow through with their asylum petitions that could have potentially sabotaged their cases. These stunts have earned numerous calls from law enforcement officials for investigations.
DeSantis' anti-immigrant record did not begin when he was elected Governor of Florida but has roots from his time as a U.S. Congressman.
DeSantis opposed a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and voted against the DREAM Act and stated opposition to protections for DACA recipients. In 2018, DeSantis effectively voted against a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients. In 2013 and 2014, DeSantis voted at least three times to block Obama’s executive order deferring deportations for DACA recipients. In 2015, DeSantis voted for an amendment effectively preventing DACA recipients from serving in the military. After President Obama deferred the deportation of DACA recipients, DeSantis voted at least three times to shut down the Department of Homeland Security as part of his opposition and he also voted at least twice to reverse the executive orders.
DeSantis has repeated the claim, ruled false by fact checkers, that Obama’s immigration executive actions resulted in “thousands” of illegal voter registrations of the undocumented. Ron DeSantis effectively voted twice to fund Trump’s border wall in 2017 and 2018. Ron DeSantis effectively voted against ending the Trump-era policy of family separation at the border on two occasions in 2018.
Ron DeSantis expressed support for Arizona’s immigration policies in the era of SB 1070.
Arizona’s SB 1070 law required state law enforcement to ask for proof of immigration status for those deemed suspicious, including on routine traffic stops, and made it a misdemeanor to be caught without those papers. The suspicion element in particular led to concerns of enabling racial profiling. In 2012, DeSantis argued Arizona’s approach to immigration was the “best for American citizens” and dismissed racial profiling concerns. Ron DeSantis took the endorsement of Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio in 2012, stating he agreed with Arpaio on immigration. Arpaio was found to have racially profiled Latinos for traffic stops and enforcement actions by a federal court.
As a presidential candidate, Ron DeSantis unveiled his national anti-immigration policy proposals.
DeSantis released an unhinged immigration plan. It includes ending birthright citizenship, mass detention of people, and suggested military action against Mexico. He continued to describe immigration as an invasion, a white nationalist talking point.
Let's go over the details:
Ending birthright citizenship. DeSantis says the plain reading of the 14th Amendment is “inconsistent with the original understanding” and he would “force courts and Congress to address it." He doesn’t elaborate how.
DeSantis claims that he will pay for the border wall using tax remittances from undocumented people and penalize countries that attempt to evade collection. How he will collect this money while attempting a mass deportation program (which is also in his plan) is not explained.
DeSantis proposes a mass detention program at the border while people await asylum cases to be determined. This will lead to thousands of people held by the US govt for an indefinite amount of time when they could otherwise be working, paying taxes, and living fruitful lives.
DeSantis proposes a mass deportation program that is pretty vague on how broad it would be but it's implied that anyone living unauthorized in the U.S. would be targeted. He includes people with overstayed visas, which is how I came to the United States.
DeSantis said he would authorize deadly force against cartel operatives and drug traffickers. When asked by a reporter to detail how far reaching this policy would be, DeSantis implied it could be used against any migrant, saying, “of course you use deadly force."
DeSantis also seeks to impose penalties on jurisdictions that have welcoming policies for immigrants by cutting off “hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to them.”
DeSantis will continue gutting the asylum system, which is something unfortunately done by both sides of the political spectrum, although DeSantis promises to go further. He plans to block most asylum cases and force people to remain in Mexico while their cases are reviewed. He also threatened harsher punishments for migrants crossing without authorization.
DeSantis believes that the U.S. military has “the right to operate across the border to secure our territory from Mexican cartel activities.” This would obviously violate Mexico’s sovereignty and could constitute an act of war.
Instead of focusing on the pocketbook issues plaguing Floridians, like a housing crisis that’s displacing Floridians or a crumbling property insurance market, Gov. DeSantis continues his extreme and un-American rhetoric that attacks hard working immigrant families.This is who he has always been as a politician, an extremist who is ramping up the xenophobic political theater for his failing presidential campaign with devastating consequences.