What a difference a year makes. More important, what a difference a governor makes.

It seems like only yesterday when Gavin Newsom was riding high, running a shadow presidential campaign against Joe Biden while continually proclaiming he was doing nothing of the sort. Then, on November 30, 2023, the perfectly coiffed California Democrat got his clock cleaned in a debate with Florida’s Ron DeSantis.

Today, Southern California is literally smoldering, and Newsom’s aspirations for higher office have gone up in smoke.

Meanwhile, the Nation’s Best Governor™, DeSantis, is continuing to kick butt and take names — managing hurricane recovery, curb-stomping Woke Disney, naming a new senator, and gearing up to help Donald Trump enact his illegal immigrant deportation agenda.

Governor DeSantis Announces Proposals to Prepare Florida to Lead https://t.co/vpzBqJugPU

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) January 15, 2025

Standing before a backdrop of local sheriffs and deputies at a press briefing in Winter Haven, DeSantis on Wednesday announced a series of proposals to position Florida “to quickly carry out President-Elect Donald Trump’s mandate to combat illegal immigration.” The proposals will be hammered out and enacted in a special legislative session that DeSantis has called ahead of its regularly scheduled March 4 session.

“As part of the special session I called for January 27,” said DeSantis, “the week after President Trump is sworn in, I am calling on the legislature to appropriate funding for detention, relocation, transportation infrastructure, local law enforcement support, and everything else needed for Florida to carry out this mission.”

That special session has apparently ruffled the feathers of a couple of the state’s Republican leaders, Florida House Speaker Danny Perez and Florida Senate President Ben Albritton, but DeSantis isn’t bending. After all, we have a country to save.

“You’re basically saying,” said DeSantis to curious reporters, “after four years of Biden’s really destructive border policies that it’s somehow premature to act with a new president coming in? Are you kidding me? This is the time to act.”

Referring to that ruinous open-borders regime, DeSantis said: “On Monday, we have an opportunity to do something about it, with the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president. We are not approaching the new administration in a lackadaisical fashion. We in Florida have a sense of urgency to accomplish this mission, and the mission is very simple: We need to end the illegal immigration crisis once and for all in these United States of America.”

The legislation DeSantis has proposed includes the following:

• Mandating maximum participation in the deportation program outlined within the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, with penalties for non-compliance, including suspension of — how shall we say this? — unenthusiastic state officials.
• Establishing a state crime for entering the U.S. illegally and a process for self-deportation.
• Appointing a dedicated officer to oversee coordination with federal authorities and the Unauthorized Alien Transport Program, and expanding that program to detain and facilitate the deportation of illegals from the U.S.
• Broadening the legal definition of gang-related activities to include more groups of dangerous illegal aliens, and expanding the state’s ability to deny bail to illegals by presuming them to be flight risks.
• Repealing in-state college tuition for illegal immigrant students.

“Even though it’s the federal government’s primary responsibility to enforce our nation’s immigration laws,” argued DeSantis, “practically speaking — given how many people came in under Biden — if the president and the Trump administration does not have support from state and local governments across the country, the policy is not going to be optimally effective.”

Here, DeSantis is demonstrating the practicality and tenaciousness that make him so effective as a governor. Leaders lead, and other governors would do well to take note. Trump, too, seems appreciative: “Thank you Ron,” he posted to Truth Social, “hopefully other Governors will follow!”

“We must make illegal immigration illegal once again,” DeSantis said.

What a novel idea.