EAGLE PASS, Texas — Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) came out in support of allowing federal law enforcement on the southern border to use “deadly force” against dangerous criminal organizations who attempt to break into the United States.
“If the cartels are cutting through the border wall trying to run product into this country, they’re going to end up stone-cold dead as a result of that bad decision,” DeSantis said.
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“Would you let somebody just break into your house and do you harm? No. And I can tell you in Texas they wouldn’t. They wouldn’t do that,” DeSantis continued after being asked if he would permit “shooting” a trespasser in certain circumstances. “Of course, you use deadly force. I mean, they do that in Texas. Why is our country any different?”
DeSantis, a top Republican contender for president, added that “if you go and drop a couple of these cartel operatives trying to do that, you’re not going to have to worry about that anymore.”
“They’re only messing with it because they know they can get away with it,” DeSantis said.
He told attendees at a community town hall in town earlier Monday morning that he was shocked on a recent trip to the Arizona border when he was told that Mexican drug cartels used power tools, including blow torches, to cut out pieces of the new border wall so they can move backpacks of drugs into the country.
“You’d have the drug cartels actually cut through these really strong metal beams. And you have these guys with the backpacks, and they scurry right in through the wall,” DeSantis said. “I’m just thinking to myself, ‘How could a country let that happen?'”
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DeSantis said his plan for being more open to using deadly force would only come after creating rules of engagement.
He did not call on federal police to shoot illegal immigrants, of which more than 5 million have crossed the southern border since President Joe Biden took office.
