DeSantis vows to use deadly force at border to stop cartel operatives: 'Stone-cold dead'

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DeSantis says border policy would be much more assertive than Trumps first term

Fox News Bill Melugin talks to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis during the Republican presidential candidates visit to Eagle Pass, Texas.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis pledged on the campaign trail for president on Monday that his administration will change the rules of engagement at the border to physically stop drug smugglers with deadly force.

"We’re going to create adequate rules of engagement, if somebody were breaking into your house to do something bad you would respond with force," DeSantis said while visiting the southern border in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Monday. "Yet why don’t we do that at the southern border?"

"So if the cartels are cutting through the border wall trying to run product into this country, they’re going to end up stone-cold dead as a result of that bad decision."

DeSantis added, "If you drop a couple of these cartel operatives, they’ll stop coming."

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Republican presidential candidate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a campaign rally on June 26, 2023 in Eagle Pass, Texas. Gov. DeSantis engaged residents and voters while speaking about border security issues at the event.  (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

The Florida Republican was in Texas unveiling his border security agenda that he pledged will "stop the invasion" at the southern border.

"On Jan. 20, 2025, we will be on a mission to stop the invasion at our southern border to fight the drug cartels that are poisoning our citizenry, to build the border wall, and to reestablish the sovereignty of this nation," DeSantis said. "We are done with promises. We are done with slogans. Now is the time for action. No excuses. We will get the job done."

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, details his new border security plan at a news conference along the U.S.-Mexico border in Eagle Pass, Texas, on June 26, 2023. (Fox News - Alexandria Hernandez)

The governor stressed that it's "humiliating as a country to not have control over our own territory."

And he slammed President Biden, charging that "this border because of the neglect of the Biden administration, because of their intentional failures, this border is controlled by the Mexican drug cartels. That is a disgrace. That is horrific."

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Texas plans to deploy an inflatable barrier along the Rio Grande River in Eagle Pass to deter illegal immigrants from crossing into the U.S. (Texas DPS)

Fox News Digital's Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report