Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis channeled Donald Trump in the immigration platform he announced Monday. In doing so, he seemed to hope winning ownership of an issue that defined the former president’s 2016 campaign would increase his standing in a crowded GOP field.
DeSantis’s immigration plan is reflective of his central pitch to voters: He is the MAGA candidate who lacks all the legal baggage that Trump brings, including two indictments and several ongoing civil and criminal investigations.
Some of the immigration policies DeSantis proposed are directly taken from Trump’s playbook: eliminating birthright citizenship, forcing immigrants to remain in Mexico while applying for asylum, and ending “catch-and-release” policies under which some nonviolent immigrants are released into the US while awaiting deportation proceedings.
DeSantis claimed in remarks Monday in Eagle Pass, Texas, that his platform is “more aggressive” than what Trump has pushed in terms of empowering state and local officials on border enforcement, as well as using “deadly force” on the border to stop drug traffickers and anyone else “demonstrating hostile intent.”
But while DeSantis is running to Trump’s right on issues including abortion and Covid-19, he hasn’t really broken new ground on immigration. And that might be a problem for the governor, who is struggling to carve out a unique lane in the primary and articulate to Republican primary voters who don’t seem all that concerned about the former president’s legal troubles why he’s a better bet.
“His entire image and brand levers off Donald Trump’s brand. To me, that’s not a road to success,” said Vinny Minchillo, a Republican strategist based in Texas. “I think voters are seeing through that. When they see DeSantis roll out essentially the Trump immigration platform, they say, ‘We already got that.’”
What DeSantis’s immigration platform means for the 2024 primary
DeSantis is trying to make…
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