Republican Presidential Candidate Ron DeSantis Releases Aggressive Border & Anti Cartel Plan

"El Huaso" for Borderland Beat

Photo: Ron DeSantis Twitter

This morning, Ron DeSantis, a Republican candidate for United States president, released a plan titled "Stop the Invasion", which outlines his proposed plan to stem migration, fight criminal groups in Mexico, and build a wall along the southern border.

"Joe Biden has failed to meet the most basic responsibility of ensuring the territorial integrity of our country," begins DeSantis' strategy, posted on his campaign website while he simultaneously presented it at a town hall campaign event in Eagle Pass, Texas today. The introduction to the strategy lambasts the Biden administration for what he calls a "gross dereliction of duty" which he claims has resulted in criminal empowerment, widespread human trafficking, and drug flows into the United States. At one point, the plan even calls the Biden administration a "critical link in an illegal transnational human smuggling syndicate".

The strategy continues to outline four pillars of border security, and represents the most aggressive and ambitious policy towards Mexico on border issues so far, which will likely be met with extreme disapproval from the Mexican government.

Notably absent from the otherwise expansive strategy is any mention of arms trafficking, which is of major concern to the Mexican government given that around 70-80% of firearms in cartel arsenals originate in the United States. This bilateral issue has been identified by security experts as a main contributor to continuing violence in Mexico.

The four pillars are reducing illegal migration, building a wall along the southern border, bolstering US action against Mexican criminal groups, and increasing focus on building state power. 

For a full bullet point breakdown of the four pillars, skip to the end.

The first pillar, which focuses on reducing legal and illegal migration, is the longest and most complex section. Initiatives here range from increasing the capacity of the Border Patrol by increasing their compensation, to working with Latin American governments to stem both illegal and legal migration.

The second pillar is clearly inspired by former President Donald Trump's initiative to build and expand the US border wall. Here, DeSantis promises to modernize existing portions of the wall with new technology as well as completing construction along the 600 mile section of the border without a barrier. One of the more interesting proposals is the deployment of the US Army to assist Border Patrol until wall construction is complete.

The third pillar focuses on expanding US actions against criminal groups in Mexico. This section is the most brazen, and will likely draw intense backlash from the Mexican government. This section includes initiatives like designating Mexican crime groups as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, to advocating for US military operations on Mexican soil if the Mexican government does not "cooperate". President López Obrador of Mexico has been extremely vocal in resisting both of these proposals previously. 

The fourth pillar, which aims to expand states' power in reducing drug and migrant flows, is the shortest, but no less important. This section includes a proposal to punish sanctuary regions, or regions where local governments choose not to enforce migration law.

The four pillars, especially pillar 3, will undoubtedly be sternly rejected by the Mexican government, who will view them as an attack on their national sovereignty. The debate over terrorist designation of Mexican crime groups has heated up over the last years, and has gone from a fringe view to being represented in every Republican Presidential candidates' platform. 

The plan also mentions the potential risk of terrorists exploiting the southern border. This is generally regarded by most experts not to be a serious concern, as there has never been a terrorist attack involving elements that have crossed the United States' southern border.

This plan arrives at a time when US media interest security in Mexico as well as political will to designate organized criminal groups in Mexico as foreign terrorist organizations is crescendo.

In 2022, the United States news media wrote four times as many news articles about security and cartels in Mexico than they did in 2002. This increase in news media coverage mirrors an increase in the quantity of legislation submitted to Congress. Bills with keywords "Mexico'' and ''cartel" increased 580%, from five bills submitted in the 107th Congress (2001-2002), to 34 in the 117th Congress (2021-2022).

The four pillars

1. "Stop the invasion"

• Bolstering Border Patrol pay and benefits to fill vacancies. 
• Increasing recruiting focus on former police and military.
• Reimposing the Remain in Mexico policy, which requires migrants to stay in Mexico until their asylum case is decided.
• Ending birthright citizenship, which allows children of undocumented migrants to gain US citizenship
• Taxing remittances from undocumented migrants.
• Deporting Visa overstayers.
• Increasing penalties for human trafficking, smuggling, and reoccurring illegal reentry.
• Working with Panama to close the Darien Gap, the crossing point between Central and South America.
• Ending catch-and-release. Migrants will be detained until their hearing date.
• Close the Flores "loophole", a 1997 court ruling which limits the time migrant children can be detained.
• End the use of Notices to Report.
• Strengthening focus on E-Verify, a web-based system that allows enrolled employers to confirm the eligibility of their employees to work in the United States
• Defunding and prosecuting entities which "aid or conspire to violate U.S. immigration laws".
• Ordering the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security to reinstate Asylum Cooperative Agreements with Northern Triangle Countries.

2. "Build the wall"

• Deploying the US military to assist border patrol until the wall is built
• Complete the border wall.
• Modernizing the border and expanding the use of technology to monitor it.
• Utilizing the Army Corps of Engineers to clear natural barriers to build roads for CBP use.

3. "Hold cartels accountable"

• Designating Mexican crime groups as Foreign Terrorist Organizations in order to expand US resources against them.
• Creating a Joint Counter-Cartel Task Force to gather and diffuse intelligence.
• Convene the Organization of American States to announce new diplomatic, economic, and security initiatives to deter violent cartel activity. 
• Allow use of force against drug smugglers.
• If Mexico does not cooperate, allowing US forces to operate across the border to secure our territory from Mexican cartel activities.
• Bolstering the US Navy and Coast Guard's interdiction capabilities.

4. "Work with states to enforce the law"

• Blocking the Department of Justice from suing states when they enforce immigration laws.
• Imposing firm penalties on sanctuary jurisdictions.
• Reimbursing states affected by "Biden's border crisis".
• Remove undocumented migrants from census apportionment calculations.

Sources: Ron DeSantis Campaign Site, Ron DeSantis Twitter, Arms Trafficking WH Statement 6/14/ 23, Borderland Beat Archives 6/16/23, NBC News