Gov. Ron DeSantis amplified a podcast Tuesday criticizing President Donald Trump's new plan to shield undocumented farm workers from deportation, insisting that "amnesty" shouldn't be granted to any non-citizen.
While DeSantis has tightly aligned with Trump's anti-illegal immigration agenda through harsh state crimes and an "Alligator Alcatraz" detention facility, the governor's indirect criticism on Tuesday marks the first of its kind on immigration during Trump's second term in office.
It comes exactly a week after Trump visited "Alligator Alcatraz" in South Florida, where he both lauded the migrant detention center and mentioned that his administration needs to find a way to make farmers "responsible" for any undocumented workers they employ.
DeSantis disagrees.
"No amnesty. No debate. No compromise," the governor posted on X, responding to a Tuesday morning podcast by right-wing media personality Josh Hammer. The Newsweek editor, who largely blamed Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins for the new Trump stance on undocumented laborers, also criticized Trump in the 20-minute podcast.
"With all due respect, Mr. President, this is not what we voted for. This is not what MAGA voted for. This is not what America first voted for...[It's] America last," Hammer said. “This is nonsense. This is garbage.”
For the past month, Trump has publicly softened on which people should be deported. While he argues that all "criminal illegals" should be immediately removed, he now thinks that undocumented farm workers and those in the hotel and leisure industry should be allowed to stay if their employers "vouch" for them.
"I don't want to take people away from the farmers...If a farmer's willing to vouch for these people, in some way, Kristi, we're gonna have to just say that's gonna be good. We're gonna be good with it," Trump said at a Des Moines rally last week, appealing to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
It's a large pivot from the president's past claims that any non-citizen needs to be deported. It's also a split from DeSantis's own hardline views on the topic.
In January, the Florida governor waged a brutal war against GOP lawmakers who first refused to pass a new illegal immigration package, and later sent DeSantis a sweeping bill granting immigration powers to the Agriculture Commissioner.
DeSantis vetoed it, calling it an "amnesty bill." A compromise law was signed instead, removing in-state tuition rates for undocumented students, creating state-level crimes for illegally entering Florida, and mandating the death penalty for an unauthorized immigrant who commits a capital crime.
The governor's office did not respond to a request for comment.
