SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – With what is believed to be Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s second plane carrying migrants from Texas landing in Sacramento on Monday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom took aim at the Republican, calling him a “small pathetic man.”
But now that DeSantis has officially launched his campaign for the presidency, how will his immigration policies change the way voters view him?
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KCBS Radio’s Matt Bigler and Margie Shafer spoke with KCBS Political Analyst Marc Sandalow about the governor and what might happen now that he has officially thrown his hat into the ring.
Sandalow shared that the actions from DeSantis are viewed through one of two lenses.
“If you are supportive of immigrants, if you’re concerned about those who are seeking asylum in the United States, you might think, as Newsom said, ‘a pathetic move by a sad man,’” Sandalow said. “But in Florida, it looks completely different. In Florida, what DeSantis is saying is that this is what it means to be tough on immigrants.”
Sandalow says that DeSantis showing he is tough on migrants is not new to him but a common tactic used by Republicans in recent years looking to show their strengths.
“The idea here, and we’ve seen this done many, many times before, almost exclusively, not completely, but almost exclusively, by Republicans, is to demonize immigrants and to act as if being tough on immigrants means you will crack down on the border,” Sandalow said.
Sandalow shared that being tough on migrants is a relatively new tactic that he says was spurred on by former President Donald Trump.
Looking back two decades, Sandalow says he can still remember former President George W. Bush campaigning in South Carolina and sharing that family values don’t stop at the southern border.
The political analyst said that Bush’s compassion and thoughts on immigration reform back then would stop him from being able to run in the Republican primary today.
When it comes to how other Republicans have responded to the issue, Sandalow says there’s no feeling in the party right now that “this is bad politics.”
“This is something that is Republican politics today,” Sandalow said.
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