Gov. DeSantis slams sanctuary jurisdictions like Minnesota for inciting violence, thwarting immigration law

Gov. Ron DeSantis says leaders who aren’t doing their part to stop citizen protests from impacting immigration enforcement are guilty of “interposition,” effectively subverting the legitimate efforts of the federal government.

He told the Florida Sheriffs Association that “sanctuary jurisdictions openly, proudly … say, you know, we are not going to cooperate with any type of immigration enforcement.” DeSantis singled out Minnesota, which has been in the news for the recent death of an armed protester in Minneapolis, for specific criticism.

“You have somebody in a jail or in prison and they’re getting out. Why would you not honor a detainer request from the Department of Homeland Security to turn over the illegal criminal alien over to immigration so that they can be repatriated? But they don’t do that. They don’t help with data. They don’t help with all these other things,” DeSantis said.

“You have an election, you debate these issues. The laws are on the books, and they just believe that they should be able to opt out of that, and not be involved. … You have really aggressive operations that are being done, funded in some of these cities, to try to prevent the law enforcement from carrying out basically what the voters asked to do in the 2024 election, and what federal law requires of them to do.”

DeSantis said those efforts have created a dangerous environment for law enforcement.

“If you work for the Department of Homeland Security, if you’re an immigration officer, you know, they’re putting a target on your back. They’re trying to put your likeness out. They want people to be able to come and target you,” DeSantis said.

“So they’re creating this situation where just doing your job and just following law is very, very difficult because you have all this clutter and you have all this sand that’s trying to be thrown in the gears.”

From there, the Governor alluded to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, each of whom have been outspoken in criticisms of the enforcement efforts in their jurisdictions.

“That is not appropriate, for a state Governor to be inciting, a Mayor to be inciting. If you don’t like the fact that we have immigration laws, then you should have done a better job when you were in power to try to convince the public that what you wanted to do is right,” DeSantis said.

He then pivoted to blaming the border policy under former President Joe Biden for the need to ratchet up enforcement efforts so significantly.

“What I see from some of those jurisdictions is basically a belief that there should be no real enforcement of immigration law, which means (if) you have one President open the border, there’s no way to un-ring that bell,” DeSantis said.

“You can violate the law. You can violate your oath of office. You cannot take care that the laws are faithfully executed for four years, and then the American people can demand redress from that in an election, and then you’re telling me that somehow that doesn’t happen.”

DeSantis concluded the rumination by accusing these local and state leaders of deliberately frustrating federal prerogatives.

“So I think it’s the lack of cooperation that’s causing a lot of friction. I think it’s the fact that these politicians are intentionally trying to sabotage enforcement efforts, not even doing basic cooperation,” he said.

Despite Florida’s intense cooperation with the Donald Trump administration’s immigration enforcement, DeSantis acknowledges that there are some people in the state who disagree with policy.

“Look at a map of Florida. Look at election results. Red with blue dots, right? Well, you know, where are you going to find people that may not want to do it? Probably where those blue dots are. I get that,” DeSantis said.

“But we ultimately had to make a determination through the Legislature and with me as Governor, what’s the policy of the state going to be? And you do have a responsibility to be doing best efforts on that. And I understand some haven’t liked it, but all are expected to do it. Many have been very, very aggressive in terms of what they’ve been doing. And I think that that’s really, really positive.”