DeSantis Pressures Speaker Johnson To Reject Senate Border Deal

 Florida Governor Ron DeSantis pushed House Speaker Mike Johnson on Thursday to reject a spending bill from the Senate that fails to make what he said are significant enough changes that could help end President Joe Biden’s historic illegal immigration crisis on the southern border.

DeSantis made the remarks during an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt when asked about the deal that Senate Democrats and Biden presented to Johnson yesterday, which included “funding for Ukraine, funding for Taiwan, funding for Israel, and some minor changes to border law,” Hewitt said.

“Speaker Johnson said no. I want this rejected unless there are 900 miles of border wall authorized in a way that cannot be avoided and constructed with current dollars,” Hewitt said. “What do you think of the deal that was offered? What do you think Speaker Johnson should say?”

“Yeah, it should be dead on arrival,” the Republican presidential candidate responded. “We have an unprecedented crisis at our border where we’ve had over eight million people come in illegally from all over the world, including from hostile nations with hostile populations. And yet Biden is basically just greenlighting it. When he’s asked for money in the past, it hasn’t been to stop the illegal immigration. It’s been to process more illegals. And we’re now in a situation where New York City is closing down a school, sending the kids home so that they can commandeer it to house illegal aliens? It’s crazy. And of course, this has made us vulnerable to terrorist attacks.”

 

DeSantis said Republicans must insist on the border crisis being solved with this package, including funding the border wall and cleaning up the existing language in immigration law that has allowed Biden to “abuse his power” and allow the immigration crisis to unfold.

“The public is with the Republicans on this. This is Biden’s issue,” DeSantis said. “Of all the issues that he’s handling, and he’s unpopular on most, this one is, like, the worst. He’s got the worst ratings that any president has ever had on immigration and the border. You guys can win this fight. Just hold firm.”