CNN
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Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis He will travel to southern Arizona on Wednesday, the day after he recently honored two flights that brought immigrants from Texas to California. First visit to the U.S.-Mexico border as a presidential candidate.

DeSantis will hold a roundtable at 1:45 p.m. ET in Sierra Vista, Arizona, with Cochise County Sheriff Mark Daniels, a staunch critic of President Joe Biden’s border policies, according to the governor’s office. DeSantis will also be joined by two Florida sheriffs and Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody.

Mr. DeSantis has once again plunged himself into the country’s heated immigration debate with another operation to transfer immigrants to blue jurisdictions. The DeSantis administration has arranged for 30 migrants to be flown from El Paso to Sacramento in recent days and left at a local church upon arrival in the Golden State, the Florida Emergency Management Agency confirmed Tuesday. Florida officials said these “illegal immigrants” were voluntarily displaced, but California officials said they were legal asylum seekers who were misled with promises of jobs, clothing and housing. said it was.

The state-funded, highly choreographed flight is an early indication of Mr. DeSantis’ unique position as an elected incumbent among Republican candidates. Many Republican supporters are made up of people already out of office who have had limited response to the latest headlines and voter concerns. Mr. DeSantis is mandating resources in the nation’s third-largest state to address Republican priorities and set new benchmarks.

Less than two weeks after Mr. DeSantis announced his presidential campaign, that reality came to light. His visit to Arizona on Wednesday was being arranged by government officials, but his campaign promoted the press ahead of time. On Tuesday, social media accounts implicated in Mr. DeSantis’ political activism circulated footage of Mr. DeSantis signing into law a bill targeting tech companies citing privacy concerns that day. Earlier this week, Mr. DeSantis made headlines for the governor of Florida, the nation’s first caucus state, by announcing that he had sent state officials to help Iowa following the Davenport apartment collapse.

Mr. DeSantis’ immigration move will drive a wedge between Republican voters and the rest of the world by promising to go further than his predecessors, including former President Donald Trump, in blocking illegal immigration. It’s happening in the middle of the day.

“As a Republican, I’ve probably heard about the Southern border all my adult life,” DeSantis told an audience Friday in Greenville, South Carolina. “I’ve heard a lot of rhetoric over the years, but what I’m trying to say is, as president, it’s me who will finally come to the conclusion on this issue. We are going to close our borders. ”

So far, none of DeSantis’ rivals have mentioned the immigrant plane that landed in California. Other Republicans in the race are also taking advantage of Biden’s immigration policies, even though the influx of immigrants has been much lower than expected in the days since Title 42 expired last month.

At a town hall with CNN on Sunday, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley reflected on her recent trip to the US border and told the audience: You are not ready for what I have seen. She also addressed illegal immigration if elected to the White House, including pledging to stop funding so-called sanctuary cities and introduce a nationwide electronic verification program to verify workers’ immigration eligibility. said what to do to

But her comments did not elicit nearly the same reaction from leftists and the media as the commercial plane that landed in Sacramento the day before (the first of two flights to the California capital that honored DeSantis later arranged). .

Gabby Trejo, executive director of the Sacramento Area Congregation Together, a non-profit collaborating group of local religious congregations, said migrants who were deported were “lieged and deceived,” California Governor Gavin Newsom (D-California) said. called Mr. DeSantis a “little pathetic man”. ,” threatened his Florida rival with kidnapping charges.

The operation was similar in nature to two flights arranged by the DeSantis administration in September to transport immigrants from San Antonio to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. Javier Salazar, the Democratic Texas sheriff who has been investigating the immigration deportation to Martha’s Vineyard, announced Monday that he will face unspecified charges.

While the criticism has raised new legal issues for Mr. DeSantis’ controversial operation, it has also helped keep DeSantis in the spotlight despite the growing field of Republican presidents. ing. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Vice President Mike Pence and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgham announced their candidacy for the White House this week.

DeSantis has an eight-figure budget to arrange more flights, and his administration recently struck deals with three companies ready to deploy planes and buses. He also sent 400 members of the Florida National Guard, as well as state law enforcement representatives, to Texas to help patrol highways and waterways.

Beyond immigration, DeSantis also has new powers to pursue companies that host drug shows that admit minors, doctors who provide gender-affirming treatment to children, and banks that refuse to lend to gun manufacturers. have. Unlike Mr. Trump, Mr. Pence and others, Mr. DeSantis can also call lawmakers back to the special Congress to tackle unexpected issues, as he has repeatedly done over the past two years.

DeSantis has made it clear that he will not exercise executive power during the White House campaign after signing a bill that would allow him to remain in office while running for president.

“Leadership is not about communicating virtues or building brands,” DeSantis said over the weekend in Iowa. “Leadership is ultimately about results and that’s what we do here in Florida.”