Former President Donald Trump‘s 2024 presidential campaign escalated its rivalry with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) on Monday, accusing the Florida governor of copying his immigration agenda.
DeSantis, fresh off of addressing conservative activists over the weekend, unveiled his “No Excuses” immigration plan, meant to deter immigrants from entering the United States illegally, in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Monday.
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The announcement marked his first formal campaign policy as a 2024 presidential candidate. DeSantis’s plan centers on four planks: stem the flow of illegal migration, build a border wall, address the cartels smuggling migrants, and work with states to step up immigration enforcement.
The rollout led Trump, the current GOP presidential front-runner and DeSantis’s chief antagonist, to lambaste the governor.
His campaign sent out an email to reporters highlighting the Florida governor’s past immigration stances on Monday and framed DeSantis’s policies as imitating Trump’s own.
“FLASHBACK: Ron DeSantis praised President Trump for his immigration and border policies that helped keep our country safe,” the campaign tweeted. “Now DeSantis is copying and pasting President Trump’s Agenda47 policy plan because he doesn’t have an original idea of his own.”
In a video linked to the tweet, DeSantis slammed President Joe Biden‘s handling of the border while praising Trump’s policies in multiple sound bites.
“Donald Trump had obviously the wall, which we all supported, but also safe third party agreements, as well as ‘Remain in Mexico.’ And guess what happened? The border was under control,” DeSantis said. “And I’ll tell you, the Trump border policies worked very well. Biden is undoing that right now.”
“President Trump instituted a number of policies, and it dramatically reduced the number of people that were coming across the border illegally,” he added. “This is a Biden-caused disaster and because he rejected the policies that President Trump had put in, that were working. … Trump had it right at the border. Biden’s got it wrong.”
MAGA Inc., the super PAC that backs Trump, spent Monday morning touting Trump’s immigration stances, including his declaration that he will attempt to end birthright citizenship through an executive order on his first day in office and challenge drug cartels if he is elected to a second term in office.
“Morning Consult found that the majority of Republicans say President Trump is the best candidate to handle immigration,” the MAGA Inc. Twitter account posted.
The Trump campaign also sent out an email later on Monday that championed the former president.
“President Donald J. Trump secured America’s southern border and will wage war on the deadly cartels once he returns to the Oval Office,” the campaign wrote. “Meanwhile, Joe Biden has handed over complete control of the U.S. southern border to the dangerous cartels and put American communities on the frontline.”
The campaign then listed a lengthy post of Trump’s successes on the border, including building “over 450 miles of the world’s most robust and advanced border wall” and ending “the dangerous policy of ‘catch-and-release.'”
DeSantis painted himself as a tough-on-immigration conservative well before the unveiling of his immigration plan. Last month, the governor announced he was sending troops to help Texas “defend the southern border” following the end of Title 42, the pandemic-era policy that allowed immigrants to be expelled from the southern border.
“The impacts of Biden’s border crisis are felt by communities across the nation, and the federal government’s abdication of duty undermines the sovereignty of our country and the rule of law,” DeSantis said.
He also signed into law last month a sweeping immigration bill that expands E-Verify, provides $12 million to relocate immigrants to sanctuary cities, and increases penalties for human smugglers.
“I will finally be the president to bring the issue of our open southern border to a conclusion,” DeSantis told attendees of the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Policy Conference on Friday.
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But he didn’t stop there. “For decades, we’ve complained about the open border. We’ve complained about everything that’s happening. Now is the time to act. On day one, we declare a national emergency, we mobilize all aspects, including the military,” he continued.
DeSantis later toured part of the Texas border on Sunday.
Anna Giaritelli contributed to this report.
