Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) slammed the proposed border deal and criticized President Biden for not stopping “the invasion” in Saturday comments.
“This border deal is a farce. Joe Biden already has the authority to shut the border down. He could declare it a national emergency,” DeSantis said in a video posted to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “He could stop the invasion cold if he wanted to. He does not want to. He wants to let people in.”
The Florida governor is a long-time critic of immigration policy affecting the country’s southern border. As Congress continues to negotiate and struggles to pass a Biden-backed border deal that would also unlock aid for Ukraine, DeSantis said Biden claims the bill gives him the tools “so that he could actually close the border” when in reality “it’s greenlighting up to 5,000 illegals every single day.”
“I think the appropriate number of illegal entries is zero,” he continued. “And our policy should reflect that, that we do not want people coming to this country illegally.”
President Biden has promised to shut down the border “when it becomes overwhelmed” if Congress passes a bipartisan border security bill. The bill would grant Biden “a new emergency authority” to shut down the border, which he said he would use the day the bill becomes a law.
Still, DeSantis hit Biden and said he has the authority to do so now, despite Congress continuing its talks.
“He doesn’t have the will. He doesn’t have the political philosophy to want to actually solve the problem,” he said. “So this is a question of leadership.”
DeSantis, who dropped out of the GOP presidential primary race last weekend, previously claimed that if the border deal struck in the House between Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Democrats were to pass and if he were president it would be “dead on arrival.” He also said if he were elected, he would issue a mass deportation of migrants and declare the border an emergency on his first day in office.
He also accused Senate Republicans of “caving” on efforts to secure a border deal as negotiations continue in the months-long process.