Asked about the ongoing border crisis by moderators at Wednesday night’s Republican primary debate, Governor DeSantis highlighted the example of a Brooklyn high school that imposed remote learning on Wednesday in order to shelter illegal immigrants in school facilities, arguing that the burden placed on students and their families exemplifies the Biden administration’s failure on immigration policy.
“A school in Brooklyn, New York had the kids stay home…told they were not able to get an in-person education,” DeSantis said, standing beside former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley at the CNN debate in Iowa.
“Why?,” he asked. “Because the city is commandeering the school to house illegal aliens in it. Talk about putting Americans last! You’re putting these kids out of an education because you can’t control the border. Biden has failed in this endeavor. He has not taken care that the laws of this country be faithfully executed.”
James Madison High School in Brooklyn held remote classes on Wednesday as its facilities were used to shelter nearly 2,000 illegal immigrants overnight due to the winter storm hitting the East Coast.
On Tuesday, New York City officials evacuated approximately 1,900 illegal immigrants housed in a tent shelter at Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field and relocated them to the high school’s gymnasium and auditorium. The school notified its about 4,000 students that classes would go remote, denying them in-person instruction once again after two years of Covid learning disruption.
“This will agitate local residents, disrupt the entire school environment, and place a tremendous burden on our families, students, school administrators and staff,” Republican New York city council minority whip Inna Vernikov said.
DeSantis also criticized former president Trump for leaving many immigration pledges unfulfilled. The Florida governor noted that Trump failed to complete construction of the border wall and did not make good on his pledge to deport large numbers of illegal aliens. While Trump promised record deportations, he left office having presided over fewer deportations than former president Obama, DeSantis added.
“We will build a wall, we will actually have Mexico pay for it,” he said.
DeSantis on Wednesday night also slammed his on-stage opponent for being soft on immigration. Referencing a 2015 remark in which Haley reprimanded Republicans to not call illegal immigrants “criminals,” DeSantis jabbed, “it’s disrespectful when people come to this country illegally and impose burdens on our communities and run drugs into this country.”
Haley retorted by touting her record in South Carolina, saying that her state passed the “toughest illegal immigration law in the country.” During her tenure, South Carolina also enacted E-Verify, a digital system that allows employers to confirm the eligibility of their employees to work in the U.S., which Haley accused DeSantis of slow-walking for five years before passing.
“We need to defund sanctuary cities once and for all,” Haley said. “No more safe havens for illegal immigrants.” Catch and release, the precarious practice by which illegal immigrants are apprehended and then scheduled for a court hearing that many end up not showing up to, must become “catch and deport,” Haley said.