Ron DeSantis floats ‘insurrection’ meme when talking illegal immigration

Ron DeSantis Fox News image via Life Liberty Levin
The Governor also offered a warning to lawmakers looking to 'virtue signal' about 'Alligator Alcatraz.'

Insurrection, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.

That’s one takeaway from Gov. Ron DeSantis comments on Thursday’s “Jesse Watters Primetime.”

Discussing footage of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid of a cannabis farm worked by migrants, DeSantis was blunt about the resistance to federal will.

“Well, if kind of the roles were reversed, the left would be saying it’s an insurrection, right? I mean, like, you have federal law enforcement that have clear authority to enforce clear federal law. And if you are illegally employed in this country, that is a violation of federal law. And so when you have folks, particularly in California, who are trying to interpose themselves in between the lawful process that this country has, you know, that’s a big, big problem,” DeSantis said.

The Governor has playfully riffed about what he perceives to be an overreaction to the Jan. 6, 2021, protests that interfered with the certification of the 2020 presidential election, including describing protests at the Florida Capitol as insurrectionist back in 2023.

During Thursday’s cable hit, he added that “in California, they’ve really developed a sense of entitlement to simply disregard federal laws they don’t like, particularly with regard to immigration.”

“And this has been happening for many, many years. And so I think the situation has escalated, I think that clearly they’re in the wrong, but this is likely not going to stop in California anytime soon, because I think this has just been embedded in the psyche there that somehow they can disregard laws they don’t want to follow.”

DeSantis also discussed this weekend’s tour of “Alligator Alcatraz” for federal and state legislators during the segment, quipping that while the facility exceeds standards for prisons, it’s not the “Four Seasons.”

He also offered a warning to those who may attempt to use the occasion to express their opinions about the groundbreaking pre-deportation internment camp, saying his invitation would not “provide them with a platform to virtue signal and to have some politicized photo op.”

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. His work also can be seen in the Washington Post, the New York Post, the Washington Times, and National Review, among other publications. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


3 comments

  • Henry Lerner

    July 10, 2025 at 11:38 pm

    He’s a despicable piece of feces. But that’s being mean to feces.

    Reply

  • Janis Lentz

    July 11, 2025 at 12:24 am

    Racist Ron the lame duck FL governor, needs to focus on the job he has done so poorly for the ppl of Florida! California is NOT your concern, Lil Ron! You were NOT authorized to errct those flimsy tents, but you spent Floridians’ public funds on that dangerous tent city, and you have yet to be indicted for stealing $10 million and using it to RIG an election! Resign now, thief!

    Reply

  • Janis Lentz

    July 11, 2025 at 12:24 am

    Racist Ron the lame duck FL governor, needs to focus on the job he has done so poorly for the ppl of Florida! California is NOT your concern, Lil Ron! You were NOT authorized to errct those flimsy tents, but you spent Floridians’ public funds on that dangerous tent city, and you have yet to be indicted for stealing $10 million and using it to RIG an election! Resign now, thief!

    Reply

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