DeSantis Campaign Press Release - ICYMI: Ron DeSantis on The Story with Martha MacCallum

"If you want to come to the United States, you've got to subscribe to the founding principles of this country."

Tallahassee, FL - Ron DeSantis today joined Fox News Channel's The Story with Martha MacCallum. The highlights are below.

Watch the full interview HERE.

On the historic March for Israel in Washington, DC:

I think it's great to see because as you pointed out, we've seen some really, really troubling demonstrations over the last few weeks. I mean, I was struck by with the blood not even being dried on the victims in Israel, you had people on college campuses celebrating Hamas terrorism. And I know these universities are very left, I've been in the halls of them in the past, but I think to have students celebrating terrorism was something that I would not have even predicted even having a low opinion of the culture there. And I think the antisemitism that we've seen come to the surface has been really, really troubling. In Florida, we've taken a lot of action against that. My first year as governor, we signed legislation to combat antisemitism on college campuses. We've provided security for Jewish day schools. We have strong anti-BDS legislation. We viewed this as a problem for a long time. But six weeks ago, if you would have predicted to me that it was this bad, I would not have believed that because I think what is chilling about it is it is being done with the imprimatur of some of these august institutions. They are viewing this as something that is consistent with their University's mission. I know the White House, for example, as Jewish students have been running for their lives on college campuses, they've launched an initiative to combat Islamophobia. But that's not what we're seeing in society. We're seeing this virulent antisemitism. So seeing that pro-Israel demonstration now, I think, is a good sign. I just noticed how peaceful everybody is. I don't see them burning any American flags. I don't see there any violence. They're just people that are there to celebrate a good ally.

On not taking refugees from Gaza:

I was the first one to say no Gaza refugees as a presidential candidate. And I've also said that because if you look at some of the student protests, places like MIT, have said those have been driven by students on foreign visas. And I said very clearly, as President, I'm canceling those visas and sending them home if they're making common cause with Hamas. You do not have a right to come to this country as a foreigner. It is a privilege to be able to come to this country as a foreigner. We need to look to Europe to see what they've done wrong in the past 10 or 15 years, where you now have massive numbers of people that basically reject western values and are bringing a lot of this antisemitism to the fore. So part of the thing with the Gaza refugees, people said, well, they're not all members of Hamas. Yeah, they're not all members of Hamas. That's true. But if you look at what they teach the kids there, they teach them to hate Jews. The textbooks don't have Israel on the map. They teach them that Israel should be destroyed. So it's a toxic culture. And I think any of these societies that have those toxic cultures, I would not want to import people into the United States. I would also say that if you want to come to the United States, you've got to subscribe to the founding principles of this country, and you've got to want to assimilate into this country.