EAGLE PASS, Texas (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis promised to end birthright citizenship, finish building the southern border wall and send U.S. forces into Mexico to combat drug cartels as part of an aggressive — and familiar — immigration policy proposal he laid out Monday in a Texas border city.
The sweeping immigration plan is the Florida governor’s first detailed policy release as a 2024 contender and represents a long-established wish list of Republican immigration proposals that largely mirrors former President Donald Trump’s policies. Much of DeSantis’ plan faces tall odds, requiring the reversal of legal precedents, approval from other countries or even an amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Still, DeSantis projected confidence on Monday as he slapped at leaders in both political parties in announcing his new plan, which he detailed further in Eagle Pass, Texas, a community of about 30,000 people set along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“I have listened to people in D.C. for years and years and years, going back decades — Republicans and Democrats — always chirping about this yet never actually bringing the issue to a conclusion,” DeSantis told an audience of roughly 100 people. “What we’re saying is no excuses on this.”
The DeSantis campaign has promised to release more detailed policy rollouts in the coming weeks. But in leading with immigration, DeSantis is prioritizing a divisive issue that has long been a focus of the GOP’s most conservative voters. At the same time, voters in the middle and on the left have taken notice as illegal border crossing surged in recent years.