Gov. Ron DeSantis is now pledging to shoot migrants carrying backpacks if they get past Trump’s border wall and try to cross into the United States.
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DeSantis said, “We are going to authorize the use of deadly force against the cartels. If you have somebody coming in with the Fentanyl in the backpack, they even break through the border wall, where there is wall. If they’re doing that, that’s the last thing they’re going to be able to do because we’re going to leave them stone-cold dead at the border.”
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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 18, 2023
The DeSantis plan is based on the lie that migrants are bringing in Fentanyl. The truth is that 84% of Fentanyl is coming in through ports of entry via trucks, foreign tourists, and American citizens. The DeSantis plan would do nothing to seize more Fentanyl.
How will law enforcement know what is in the backpack of the person crossing the border without inspecting it? Are law enforcement supposed to shoot migrants on sight because they might be carrying drugs?
DeSantis has been pushing this deadly force on the border line for months.
There was once another country that built a wall and shot people who tried to cross it, and they were called East Germany. To be fair, there is no evidence that DeSantis wants to shoot people for trying to leave America, yet, but the Florida governor’s answer when asked how the border patrol can tell the difference between a cartel member and a migrant was not reassuring.
DeSantis told NBC News, “Same way a police officer would know. Same way somebody operating in Iraq would know. You know, these people in Iraq at the time, they all looked the same. You didn’t know who had a bomb strapped to them. So those guys have to make judgments.”
Police officers kill Americans every year, and the exact number is impossible to know because many police shootings are mislabeled.
Ron DeSantis is trying to win a Republican presidential primary by moving to the far right of Trump. Given that Trump’s base within the Republican primary is only about 40%, Desantis seems to be committing a major strategic and tactical blunder.
It flies in the face of American values for DeSantis to suggest that America should become more like North Korea or East Germany. Of course, the nation should stop the importation of illegal drugs, but the DeSantis plan of a racist attack on migrants that destroys American values is not the way to do it.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
