Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis vowed to issue a mass deportation of migrants coming into the United States if he is elected president.
DeSantis said at the CNN GOP presidential debate in Iowa on Wednesday that migrants are coming from “all over the world” and represent a “ticking time bomb” for the country.
“They all have to go back. We have to enforce the rule of law in this country,” he said.
DeSantis said President Biden has failed in keeping the border secure and is not ensuring that laws be “faithfully executed.” He later defended his stance of the mass deportations after co-moderator Jake Tapper sought to clarify with him if any of the millions of people who have entered the country illegally would be allowed to stay.
“The number of people that will be amnestied when I am president is zero,” he said. “We cannot do amnesty in this country.”
He argued that amnesty would only further incentivize people to come into the country illegally.
He also argued that the public should not trust his fellow presidential candidate Nikki Haley to handle the border, saying, “That’s like having a fox guard the hen house.” He pointed to comments that Haley made in 2015 in which she said undocumented immigrants should not be called “criminals.”
“She’s weak on immigration,” DeSantis said.
Haley responded that just because these immigrants should not be referred to as criminals does not mean they should be allowed to enter the country. She also said the millions of undocumented immigrants in the country have to be deported.
“You have to deport them, and the reason you have to deport them is they’re cutting the line,” Haley said.
She argued that deporting them will stop more people from coming into the country.