Ron DeSantis' border patrol plan is serious, detailed

Ron DeSantis is serious about finishing building Trump's wall. Most importantly, he's got a detailed plan that will finish building the wall that Trump didn't. Gov. DeSantis starts his plan by saying "As president I will put an end to this moral and humanitarian catastrophe by shutting down illegal entries and building the wall, once and for all. There are more than 600 miles of the US-Mexico border without an effective barrier to illegal crossings: I will use every ounce of my executive power and political capital to get the wall built."

Next, Gov. DeSantis highlights his competence, stating "We know how to get infrastructure built quickly and cut through red tape. After Hurricane Ian, Pine Island in Florida was completely cut off from the mainland. I ordered the Florida Department of Transportation to assist, and within 24 hours, we had more than 130 trucks rolling in and crews got to work. We didn’t just get it done—we got it done in three days, and emergency personnel were able to get on the island and start rebuilding. If needed, I’ll happily send those same crews to the southern border to get the wall built."

It's time to put someone in charge who gets things done. Trump had 4 years. During that time, he bragged about the progress he was making. Now, we're finding out just how little he got built.

From Trump's plan

We will end catch-and-release and ensure that migrants are held in detention while they are awaiting the resolution of their claims, and not just released into the interior of the country. We will reimpose Remain in Mexico and stop the flood of phony asylum claims. We will hire more Border Patrol agents and more removal agents to make sure that even if illegal immigrants cross, they will swiftly be found and deported.

Something entirely different

We will take action to end the idea that the children of illegal aliens are entitled to birthright citizenship if they are born in the United States. Dangling the prize of citizenship to the future offspring of illegal immigrants is a major driver of illegal migration. It is also inconsistent with the original understanding of 14th Amendment, and we will force the courts and Congress to finally address this failed policy.

Then there's this:

I will wage war on narco-trafficking in Mexico and throughout Latin America. I will designate the Mexican drug cartels as Transnational Criminal Organizations, and I will sanction cartels, their leaders, and other entities that provide support for drug trafficking.

I will authorize appropriate rules of engagement at the border so that those trying to smuggle drugs into the United States are met with the use of force. Right now, cartel operatives cut through portions of the border wall with impunity and poison our communities with dangerous drugs; that ends on January 20, 2025.

As per usual, Bill Melugin was there to report on things:

This article takes a healthy swipe at Trump:

But DeSantis also specifically criticized Trump on his signature policy issue from 2016, an unfinished U.S.-Mexico border wall, saying that if elected, he would complete it. Ahead of a speech on Monday delivered from the border town of Eagle Pass, Texas, the Florida governor viewed the southern border from a helicopter with a Fox News reporter and later criticized the porous nature of Trump’s wall.

"I was in Arizona the other day. You have like — wall, then it just kind of stops," he said, warning that the structure allows illegal entry by members of Mexican drug cartels, who can "cut through the really fortified steel beams. If somebody were breaking into your house to do something bad, you would respond with force. Yet why don’t we do that at the Southern border?" DeSantis said during a press conference following the speech. "If the cartels are cutting through the border wall, trying to run product into this country, they’re going to end up stone cold dead as a result of that bad decision and if you do that one time, you are not going to see them mess with our wall ever again."

There's no disputing that Trump got the border under better control than Biden, Bush and Obama. That doesn't mean, though, that he got as much done as he should have. The fact is that Gov. DeSantis has an impressive history of getting things done, starting with cleaning up Hurricane Ian. Trump tried getting things done, which I appreciate, but I prefer those that actually get things done.