Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis encouraged Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to reject the proposed Senate border bill.
DeSantis claimed the bill does not make significant changes to curb the nation's unprecedented illegal immigration crisis on the southern border.
The Florida governor urged the Speaker to reject the proposed bill during a Thursday radio appearance with host Hugh Hewitt, who noted the proposed border security bill included funding for Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel along with "minor changes" to the nation's southern border.
“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 and asked DeSantis for his opinion on the offer.
"It should be dead on arrival," the Florida governor said. “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," DeSantis said of President Joe Biden. "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?"
DeSantis said lax border policies proposed by Democrats are "crazy" and have "made us vulnerable to terrorist attacks."
The Florida governor encouraged congressional Republicans to push for border funding along with changes to language in immigration law which Biden has used to "abuse his power" amid the border crisis. “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.” Speaker Johnson has insisted House Republicans' stance on "transformative" border security in exchange for future aid to foreign nations in recent weeks. "I've made this very clear ... from the very beginning, when I was handed the gavel, we needed clarity on what we're doing in Ukraine, and how we'll have proper oversight of the spending of precious taxpayer dollars of the American citizens," Johnson said in December. "We need transformative change at the border."
