DeSantis advocates for allowing deadly force against drug cartel operatives who cut through border wall

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has indicated that as president he would support rules of engagement that allow for the use of deadly force against drug cartel operatives who cut through the nation's border wall.

DeSantis, a GOP presidential primary candidate who is polling in a distant second place behind former President Donald Trump, said that use of lethal force would deter drug cartels from attempting to breach the barrier.

"If somebody were breaking into your house to do something bad, you would respond with force. Yet why don't we do that at the southern border?" he said, adding that if cartels are breaking through the wall in an attempt to smuggle products into the U.S., they will "end up stone-cold dead as a result of that bad decision. And if you do that one time, you are not gonna see them mess with our wall ever again."

DeSantis said Mexican drug cartels control America's southern border, a situation which he described as "horrific" and a "disgrace."

The governor made the comments during a speech in Texas in which he discussed his plans to tackle the border crisis if he becomes president.

"We are going to build a border wall. Walls work," DeSantis stated.

He called for penalizing sanctuary jurisdictions and said he supports states' and localities' right "to enforce federal immigration law."

DeSantis rejected the notion that a child is automatically an American citizen if he or she is born in the U.S. shortly after the mother crosses the border. He said that this notion is "not the original understanding of the 14th Amendment" and that he'd act to compel clarification on the issue.

He also said he would designate the cartels as foreign terrorist organizations or transnational criminal organizations.

JUST IN: DeSantis Declares He Will Build Border Wall If Elected President In 2024www.youtube.com

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