BURSTPresident Trump praised his former primary rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) during his visit to the state’s new migrant detention facility known as "Alligator Alcatraz" on Tuesday.
“Ron, I’d like to thank you personally,” Trump told DeSantis at a roundtable event.
"You're my friend, you'll always be my friend, and we may have some skirmishes even in the future, I doubt it, but we'll always come back because we have blood that seems to match pretty well," the president continued. "We have a relationship that has been a strong one for a very long time and I appreciate it."
Trump also hailed Florida for its role working with his administration to enforcing the president's robust immigration policy.
“I want to express my tremendous thanks to the state of Florida for embracing this opportunity and being a true partner,” he said. “They’ve worked so well with the federal government. It’s been just a beautiful, beautiful partnership.”
The site, located in the swampy Florida Everglades, includes soft-sided holding units for hundreds of detainees through a partnership in which the federal government will provide the funding. The Florida Division of Emergency Management has overseen its build-out and management. Additional holding units will be added through next month, under the agreement.
The facility is expected to cost about $450 million per year, which will come from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Shelter and Services Program that was used to house asylum-seekers during the Biden administration.
DeSantis also offered his own compliments for Trump, pointing to the U.S. strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites last month.
“As somebody who was serving on active duty in Iraq back in the day, we witnessed the number of our troops that were killed or wounded by the Iranians,” the governor said. “We know that they are a militant, Islamic regime that was hellbent on getting nuclear weapons and under Joe Biden, they were about to get nuclear weapons.”
“Because of your strong actions, those dreams and those ambitions have been reduced to rubble,” he added, calling the president's decision to strike Iran “tough but strong.”
The camaraderie between the two leaders is a sea change from the 2024 Republican presidential primary, when Trump and DeSantis famously sparred for the GOP nomination.
DeSantis later dropped out and endorsed Trump. The governor has since worked to partner with the White House on its crackdown on illegal immigration. Earlier this year, the Sunshine State governor called for a special state legislative session to implement the president's immigration agenda.
That move resulted in backlash from Republican members of Florida’s state legislature, who claimed that DeSantis did not have the authority to hold a special session.
However, Tuesday’s event brought together members DeSantis and a number of his political critics, including state House Speaker Daniel Perez (R), state Sen. Joe Gruters (R), Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson (R), and Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), who Trump has endorsed for governor.
DeSantis is term limited and cannot seek a third consecutive term, though his wife, Florida first lady Casey DeSantis, has been floated as a potential candidate.