DeSantis' immigration plan is similar to Trump's, but it's way tougher on hiring undocumented workers

Republican presidential candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at an annual Basque Fry at the Corley Ranch in Gardnerville, Nevada, earlier this month. Andy Barron/AP Photo

• DeSantis’ introduced a sweeping immigration pledge as part of his 2024 campaign.
• A plan to require businesses to check immigration status is harsher than Trump’s. 
• The plan could put millions of undocumented immigrants out of work. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ border security plan released Monday has numerous similarities to that of 2024 frontrunner former President Donald Trump.

Yet there’s a key place where he differentiated himself, on an issue that wades into not only immigration, but the economy.

DeSantis said if elected to the White House he would “strengthen and enforce” E-Verify, an electronic database that allows business to check workers’ residency status. It was part of a sweeping immigration plan he unveiled in the border town of Eagle Pass, Texas, on Monday.

Forcing employers to use E-Verify could put million of people out of work and disproportionately affect industries such as healthcare, construction, and farming, so much so that Trump retreated on the idea when he was in office.

A new law set to take effect this week in Florida provides insight into what DeSantis has planned. It will require all businesses with 25 workers or more to use E-Verify, and those who don’t comply would pay fines of up to $1,000 a day. Under current federal law, employers aren’t liable if they unknowingly employ undocumented people.

If implemented nationally, as many as an estimated 7 million undocumented people would be out of work, though there are some ways workers could bypass the requirement. Some undocumented people have left Florida already in anticipation of the crackdown there, Insider previously reported.

DeSantis in recent weeks has tried to differentiate himself from Trump by shining a spotlight on pledges where he said his rival fell short during his presidency.

Trump backed off mandatory use of E-Verify as president, expressing concerns that businesses — particularly agricultural employers — wouldn’t find enough workers. He also proposed cutting millions of dollars in funding from the program in one of his budgets.

In 2019, The New York Times reported that Trump’s company employed undocumented people at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club, spurring a change in business policy at the Trump Organization.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a question over whether the former president planned to pursue an E-Verify mandate if reelected.

While it was part of his 2016 presidential campaign, it’s absent from his 2024 reelection promises.

The border plan is first presidential agenda DeSantis has rolled out since launching his 2024 campaign in May. His campaign website headline the plan as “Stop the Invasion” — using similar rhetoric Trump used when he was president.

In an email sent to reporters, the Trump campaign on Monday accused DeSantis of copying and pasting the former president’s border plan. Most notably, the DeSantis plan agreed with Trump’s idea to disallow children born to undocumented immigrants to receive automatic US citizenship.

From left, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump From left, Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images; Liam McBurney/PA Images via Getty Images; EVA MARIE UZCATEGUI/AFP via Getty Images

Immigration and the economy are top issues for GOP voters

Several other parts of the DeSantis plan were similar to Trump’s, such as a promise to extend the wall on the southern border and detaining people until their immigration hearing dates.

Just as when Trump was president, DeSantis pledged to remove people living in the US illegally from being counted toward the Census. In 2020, the Supreme Court punted the issue, which would reduce the number of US House seats in some states and decrease federal dollars toward healthcare programs.

DeSantis during a press conference Monday in Eagle Pass acknowledged some of his policies were similar to Trump’s. “A lot of the things he’s saying I agree with, but I also think those were the things he was saying back in 2016,” he said.

Another key difference, the governor said, was that his plan was “more aggressive” because it would give states and cities the right to deport people.

Ahead of the DeSantis event, the Trump campaign circulated an email to reporters noting that DeSantis previously praised Trump’s immigration policies, as well as a Morning Consult poll that found the majority of Republican voters trusted Trump to handle the issue over other 2024 candidates candidates.

The former president pledged if reelected that he would conduct the “largest deportation operation in American history.”

Most Republican presidential candidates tend to take a hardline stance on illegal immigration, knowing polling shows it’s a top concern for GOP voters. When Trump was in office, his anti-immigration rhetoric and actions whipped up his base and led to numerous lawsuits and public backlash.

Under federal law, using E-Verify is optional for most employers, with exceptions for government contractors and stricter requirements in some states.

Some Republicans want to change that. US House Republicans included E-Verify mandates in a bill they passed this year, though the body drew up exceptions for farmers.

Florida’s law has smaller exemptions, including for independent contractors as well as individuals who hire people to do work around their homes.

Proponents of stricter employee verification rules say the US shouldn’t create incentives for undocumented workers. They argue that undocumented people can earn more if they work in the US than in their home countries, while also making it better for employers to hire people who are undocumented and willing to work at lower wages that most Americans.

Opponents counter that people living in the US should be allowed to earn a living while they await their immigration hearings, and that many businesses — especially smaller ones — wouldn’t have enough workers, or would have to raise their costs, under a strict E-Verify law.

On Monday, DeSantis held a town hall before taking questions from reporters about this border plan. He pledged to use “all levers of disposal” to stymie unauthorized entrance into the US.

Certain measures he proposed, such as increasing pay for Border Patrol, would require Congress to sign off. The governor also said he would cut off millions in federal grants to “sanctuary cities.” Such jurisdictions limit their cooperation with federal immigration authorities by refusing to report or hand over certain undocumented immigrants for deportation.

The governor implemented one of the toughest immigration policies in the US. This month, Florida officials relocated migrants from Texas to Sacramento, California, as a political stunt aimed at Democratic states that support looser immigration policies. The relocation program is paid through $12 million in state funding.

“It is humiliating as a country to not have control over our own territory,” DeSantis said Monday.