Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis destroyed Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) in a statement this week after AMLO attacked the governor for his new anti-illegal immigration legislation.
AMLO made the remarks on Monday before DeSantis signed the legislation into law on Wednesday that has been described by The New York Times as “the toughest crackdown” on illegal immigration by any state in the United States.
“Why does [DeSantis] have to take advantage of people’s pain, of migrants’ pain, of people’s need for political gain?” AMLO said during a press conference. “This is immoral. This is politicking.”
“Now I found out that the Florida governor — imagine, Florida, which is full of migrants — is taking repressive, inhumane measures against migrants in Florida because he wants to be a candidate,” AMLO added. “Can’t he not make another proposal to convince people?”
DeSantis responded to AMLO’s remarks in a statement that slammed the leftist president for the worsening organized crime in his country by Mexican drug cartels that is driving the illegal immigration and drug crises in the United States.
“President López Obrador should be cracking down on the cartels running his country and fueling our deadly opioid epidemic instead of worrying about what we are doing in Florida,” DeSantis said. “While President Biden may take his cues from leftist foreign leaders, Floridians won’t let their immigration laws be dictated by Mexico City.”
“I’ll never back down from using the full weight of my office to protect the people of Florida by enforcing our immigration laws, and look forward to signing the strongest legislation against illegal immigration in Florida history,” DeSantis added.