Awesome governor and presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has unveiled his plan to secure the border, a rehash of former president Trump's failed ideas on steroids. But as Greg Sargent writes in the Washington Post, DeSantis's plan is nothing mote than harsher performative cruelty.

The reason Trump largely failed in controlling the border had little do with competence or 'toughness,' writes Sargent, but the simple fact that presidents lack the authority to close down legal immigration in any substantial way. Even harsh and cruel measures don't dissuade migrants from coming here seeking asylum.

First, DeSantis calls for mass deportations regardless of how deeply connected individuals are to communities here, a plan that the Supreme Court weighed in on just last week and one which the Congress will not fund.

DeSantis also promises to disregard legal limits on how long child migrants can be held in detention to facilitate detaining migrant families longer. Guess what? Trump tried that, too, but it was struck down in court as outside presidential authority. DeSantis would apparently mandate extended detention of all migrant families awaiting legal proceedings, but this would likely require Congress to fund a large expansion of our detention machinery. Good luck with that.

DeSantis would also end guaranteed citizenship for anyone born on U.S. soil. Trump proposed that as well, despite the pesky 14th Amendment.

And DeSantis would force asylum seekers to wait in Mexico for their hearings -- despite Mexico flatly stating this year that it opposes restarting this policy -- drive dramatic escalations in detention, major restrictions on asylum seeking, and would curtail legal immigration as well.

In short, DeSantis wants to take every cruel idea that Trump tried and failed to implement -- either for lack of funding, lack of authority, or because of rebuffs from the courts -- and dial them up to 11, super-charged in an automaton-like way Sargant calls Robo-MAGA.

washingtonpost.com - Desantis immigration border plan trump maga