Day Laborer Network Responds to DeSantis Immigration Plan

(New York) During a visit to Eagle Pass, Texas, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Monday unveiled a plan of immigration-related proposals labeled “No Excuses”, as part of his Presidential campaign for 2024.

Nadia Marin-Molina made the following statement in response to the recently unveiled plan:

“The governor of Florida has announced what he says is a plan to “secure the border” once and for all. The banner above his head reads, “No excuses.” He says he is running for president to “stop the invasion.” He will throw the full weight of the country’s muscle, money, and power into keeping immigrants on the Mexico side.

Spoiler alert: The Ron de Santis Final Solution to immigration is not worth reading. 

We read it. It’s a long wish list for white nationalists who think America has gotten too brown and black. For Republican primary voters and Fox and Newsmax voters who have swallowed the lie that immigrants are invaders out to destroy America.  It’s for those who dream of an American future that looks like its white male supremacist past.

The plan is not a real policy document. It’s a pathetic play for attention.  When all else fails in a failing campaign, punch down.  Blame immigrants.  Stoke rage.   Can anyone imagine someone running to Trump’s right on the issue of xenophobia?

It is unreal, surreal, and idiotic. It’s a violent fantasy of a deeply ignorant and toxic politician.  And it will likely result in real violence.   We have seen in El Paso and on Long Island what happens when rhetoric like this gets into deranged minds of gun owners.   

There is no other way to say it — when someone vows to build a 2,000-mile Israeli-style border barrier that is sealed tight against any incursion, to lock up every single migrant who crosses the border, to turbocharge the country’s already-immense prison and deportation machinery with ex-cops and former military members, to seal off a vast jungle in Panama, and to invade Mexico to fight drug cartels.  It envisions a permanent war. 

It’s all fantasy and incompetence and blather. The tragedy is that some news outlets may consider it worth discussing, debating, and platforming. 

Ron De Santis wants to run the United States the way he’s running Florida. Ask some Floridians if he’s handling the economy well. Ask them if he’s handling immigration labor well. Ask if he’s good for business and supporting the industries that make Florida run.    

And when it comes to DeSantis trying to out-Trump Trump.  Don’t give them attention.  Let them fight it out among themselves.”

– Nadia Marin-Molina, NDLON Co-Executive Director

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