Ron DeSantis, Top ICE Official Clash With Reporter Accusing Them Of 'Dog And Pony Show'

Forbes Breaking News

At a press briefing promoting Operation Tidal Wave, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) responded to a reporter slamming his actions on illegal immigration.

Transcript

00:00and ready and willing and able to help.

00:02With all due respect, this is the United States of America.

00:06Where are you from?

00:07I'm WSBA, Channel 7.

00:09My name is Vanessa McClure.

00:10Great, thanks.

00:11United States of America.

00:13So many people are being robbed.

00:14There's a process.

00:15This is wonderful, this God and Tony show.

00:18But there's American citizens who are being deported.

00:21They show their birth certificates.

00:23They show their passports.

00:25They show their IDs.

00:26And a lot of the work being done is a little sloppy.

00:29Well, first of all, I'll let ICE handle that accusation that you're making,

00:33that they're deporting American citizens who are showing birth certificates and all that.

00:37I don't believe that that's true, but I'll let them respond to that.

00:40But you seem to have no sympathy.

00:43You seem to have no sympathy for people that have been victimized by illegal aliens.

00:48What about people, you have someone driving drunk and kills American citizens?

00:53What about people that have been deported previously and led in under Biden,

00:57who then commit sexual offenses or commit homicides?

01:01And then we have more victims as a result of the federal government's previous inattention

01:06and unwillingness to enforce the law.

01:09So there are a lot of people that have been harmed by illegal immigration.

01:14There have been people that have been harmed by Trende Aragua gang members

01:19who should not be in this country in the first place.

01:23So let's just be clear.

01:25Who are you fighting for?

01:26We're fighting for the citizens of Florida.

01:29We want them to be able to live in a society that upholds the rule of law.

01:33We want them to be able to live in a state that is safe.

01:37And we have to take action on it.

01:39I'll let them address your accusation.

01:42But the notion that somehow this is America,

01:44therefore we're supposed to have an open border.

01:47We're not supposed to enforce immigration laws.

01:50We're supposed to just sit on our hands when Biden let in seven or eight million people

01:55illegally into the country.

01:56No, that is not responsible.

01:59That is not what our citizens elected us to do.

02:02So we're in this fight.

02:03I think a lot of these narratives that I hear to me just instinctively,

02:08I think they're fake narratives because I've seen it happen so many times.

02:12But I will let folks at ICE respond to your accusation.

02:15Well, the first thing I'll say is that I think the governor's words really stand on their own.

02:21The men and women of ICE are working every single day to protect the communities,

02:25working with state and local officials to do our very best to protect the communities.

02:29After the Biden administration opened our borders,

02:32allowed people to come into this country that should have never came into this country

02:35in the first place, jeopardizing our families and our communities

02:39and putting them in harm's way on a daily basis.

02:42The men and women of ICE are going into those communities

02:45to protect the men and women in these communities

02:47to be able to do the mission that we've been set on

02:51every single day that the president has given us.

02:54What is the court not being a tab?

02:56Of the 349,000 new court cases in 2025 alone,

03:01only 1% are new cases based on alleged criminal activity.

03:06So a lot of these people don't have criminal tasks or background.

03:10So who's being arrested and where is this information on ICE's website?

03:15It's on court documents, but we can't get this information.

03:18And ICE, quite frankly, isn't being very transparent.

03:21Look, I'll stand by the fact that if you're in this country illegally, you are a criminal.

03:26You will be deported.

03:28You will have the opportunity to be able to come back into this country

03:31through the correct immigration processes.

03:33We're working through those every single day.

03:35But our number one goal is to keep the American people safe

03:39from the criminals that are walking in this country

03:41that should have never been let through in the first place.

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