Texas border policies take center stage in Ron DeSantis’ 1st rally

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — As Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hosted his first presidential rally on the Rio Grande River on Monday, he made a promise to deliver on an immigration policy the state’s top Republicans sought all legislative session.

“The states should be permitted to send people back,” the second-most-popular candidate for the Republican nomination told supporters. “As president, we are going to fully deputize all state and local governments to be able to enforce immigration law. You will be able to have that authority.”

In the audience was State Rep. Matt Schaefer, R-Tyler, who carried major legislation that would have asserted Texas’ powers to police the federal border. His House Bill 20 would have established the Border Protection Unit, deputizing state police to use force against unauthorized immigrants independent of the federal government. It failed late in the legislative session among concerns that it would amount to an unconstitutional insubordination of federal power.

But the prominence of the Texas border in national Republican politics has fueled calls to significantly change federal immigration laws. The 10 challengers to former President Trump are competing to own this issue.

“It’s not surprising that he’s coming at a time when immigration is likely to be a major issue to bring voters out to the polls in the presidential election. So coming to Eagle Pass and coming to Texas makes a lot of sense,” the Director of the Sam Donaldson Center for Communication Studies at UT El Paso, Dr. Richard Pineda, said. “He could have easily gone to Arizona or California, but he may not have found the same politics.”

Pineda argues Gov. Abbott’s high-profile actions to patrol the Texas border make it the most desirable stop for GOP hopefuls – both to capitalize on the issue and to intimidate Gov. Abbott away from the race.

“I’ve long said that I think that Governor Abbott is still considering a run for the White House. And I think that having DeSantis come to Texas [is] a strategic decision,” he said. “This visually looks good to then use in other parts of the country to say, ‘Look at me, I’m on the border. I know what’s going on. I’m the best choice to handle this.’”

DeSantis is not the only one catering to border states, of course. His calls for increased state authority echo promises Trump made just the night before.

“We will use all necessary state, local, federal, and military resources to carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history,” the former president told supporters in Oakland on Monday night.

That kind of increasingly powerful rhetoric is expected to rise as the 11 candidates jockey for attention from the most conservative factions of the country. But the message is not always catered to the venue. As Pineda explains, although DeSantis was in Eagle Pass on Monday, he was speaking to Iowa and New Hampshire. And that message will not always resonate with the people in those border communities.

“I think the hardest part for me, as somebody on the border, is the sort of nature of dehumanizing the folks that are trying to cross into the United States. It is, in my mind, really dangerous.”