Q&A of the Day – DeSantis' Illegal Immigration Plan vs. Trump’s Border Plan
Each day I feature a listener question sent by one of these methods.
Email: brianmudd@iheartmedia.com
Social: @brianmuddradio
iHeartRadio: Use the Talkback feature – the microphone button on our station’s page in the iHeart app.
Today’s Entry: @brianmuddradio DeSantis sounds like he’s just copying the Trump border plan and trying to take the issue from him.
Bottom Line: Governor DeSantis may well be looking to take the issue from former President Trump, which was the one in 2015 which took Trump from what appeared to be an unlikely outsider GOP challenger for president quickly turning him into the favorite, however his plan is far from a copy of Trump’s. The most recent and final incarnation of Trump’s border and immigration plan was produced on May 21st of 2019 while still president. The plan, which wasn’t implemented as Democrats controlled Congress from that point through the end of his presidency, included six key pillars:
- Fully secure the border
- Restore integrity to America’s exploited asylum process
- Modernize the legal immigration process to protect American workers
- Promote national unity
- Prioritize the immediate families of U.S. citizens and new immigrants
- Increase diversity and equality
The key cogs of the plan that the president called for included:
- Creating a permanent border security fund which would be paid for by the charging of new entry fees in ports of entry allowing for the construction and maintenance of the border wall and related security projects
- Closing abused loopholes in the asylum process
- Replacing the VISA lottery system with a merit and skills-based system
- The introduction of a mandatory U.S. civics exam for all green card applicates
- Prioritizing family units for the issuance of green cards
The Pro-American, Pro-Immigrant and Pro-Worker plan, as it was framed, is easy to understand and easy to communicate. I’d imagine most Republican primary voters would strongly support it. As for whether Governor DeSantis is attempting to copy it... The answer based upon the details of the plan is pretty clearly no. DeSantis’ Stop The Invasion plan reads much like many of the governor’s annual budget blueprints. Heavy on detail and specific action items he wants to have implemented. Whereas President Trump’s plan included five key areas of reform across six categories, DeSantis’ calls for 36 action items across four categories. As it pertains to Trump’s policy, and his most recent plan, you could break what DeSantis has proposed into three different categories... Trump policy he intends to replicate. Proposed policy that’s consistent with what Trump proposed but wasn’t able to implement. Proposed policy that’s different than what Trump’s proposed. Here’s how that breaks out...
Trump policy DeSantis would replicate:
- Ending catch-and-release
- Remain in Mexico policy
- Construction of a border wall
- Restoration of ICE’s primary mission as an enforcer as opposed to processor
- Restoration of Asylum Cooperative Agreements with Northern Triangle Countries
Trump proposed but not successfully implemented policy DeSantis’ plan replicates:
- Defunding sanctuary cities
- Reforming the VISA system
- Finishing construction of a border wall
DeSantis specific proposals:
- Ending birthright citizenship for those born of illegal immigrants
- End prosecutorial discretion in determining whether illegal immigrants should be deported
- Mandatory use of E-Verify for employers
- Close the Darien Gap in Panama to prevent South American and Asian caravans from advancing from there
- Deploy the military to the southern border where they’d enforce border policy until the wall is completed
- Authorization of use of force on illegal immigrants crossing the southern border
- Creation of a Joint Counter-Cartel Task Force to provide intelligence pertaining to drug and trafficking cartels into and out of the United States
- Removal of illegal aliens from census calculations
It’s a blend of items that could be achieved through a combination of executive orders and congressional action – with one of the proposals, the last one I cited requiring a constitutional amendment to change. Beyond the highlights I’ve pulled out is a greater detailed analysis and plan. And therein lies the biggest difference between Trump’s plan and DeSantis’ governance style. Trump governed as president with big ideas which were delegated to others to craft policy around for the purpose of enacting. DeSantis is a hands on governor who crafts his own policy enacting what he can through executive action and attempting to influence the outcomes legislatively and judicially. This is congruent with DeSantis’ current campaign of attempting to paint Trump as a talker as opposed to the doer who projects himself to be. We’ll see how it plays, but in the meantime there are some similarities between the Trump and DeSantis plans – however there’s far more that differentiates them than not.