TRANSCRIPT: Press Gaggle: Donald Trump Speaks to Reporters After Air Force One Arrival - July 1, 2025

[Video]

Question: Mr. President?

President Trump: Hello, everybody. The trip was nice and the job they've done is fantastic and this is what you need. And Ron worked beautifully with Kristi and all of the people at Homeland Security and got it done in how many days?

Ron DeSantis: Eight days, a new facility was up and running.

Question: And is this the model going forward, Mr. President?

Trump: It can be. You don't always have land so beautiful and so secure. We have a lot of bodyguards and a lot of cops that are in the form of alligators. You don't have to pay them so much. But I wouldn't want to run through the Everglades for long. They'll keep people where they're supposed to be. This is a very important thing. We're setting records at the border. We had no people come through last month, zero, no people, but we're going to keep it that way. So Ron did great and [Inaudible]

DeSantis: Look, we -- thank you, Mr. President. Thanks for your leadership. The border, you did that quicker than -- we knew you'd do it, but you did it so quick. This is great. But Biden let in how many millions and you got to take care of them. And so this is one example of state operating this, the feds are approving it, supporting it. We're also going to have 2,000 more at Camp Landing, which is our National Guard site and we're the only state in the country that mandates our state and local law enforcement to cooperate with ICE. It's made a huge difference. On any given day, Florida constitutes about 20 percent of all immigration arrests nationwide and that's just because of the partnership that we have. So I think it's great that the president is here. What I would just say is, don't let Florida be the only state. We've got very red states that should be doing this just as much as Florida is doing. That will increase their numbers. And then what happens is you'll have a lot of people that will deport on their own because they don't want to end up in an Alligator Alcatraz or some of those other places. So I think this is a model, but we need other states to step up.

Question: I was going to ask you, [Inaudible] be enticing for other states to come up with their own model?

Trump: They are doing it. We have Louisiana doing it. Alabama is doing it. We have a lot of states. And they seem to be red states. There are not too many blue states for whatever reason. But the red states, Republican run states are doing it. The blue states don't do very well at security and policing. What would you say, Kristi?

Kristi Noem: I would say that's exactly right. The governor here has been fantastic in forming a partnership with the Department of Homeland Security. We were looking at different contracts with different vendors and thought why not go straight to our governors and ask them to help us solve this problem. Florida was unique in what they presented to us and I would ask every other governor to do the exact same thing. This is unique because we can hold individuals here, they can have their hearings, get due process and then immediately be flown back home to their home countries and their home country are welcoming them there setting up. They're setting up loans for houses. They've got food assistance. They're helping to facilitate welcoming them. I just got home from Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and they're all excited about getting their individuals back home from the United States.

Trump: And there is a lot of self-deporting.

Noem: There is.

Trump: [Inaudible] when you have something like this, [Inaudible] so I'd ask Ron one question. I flew over the Everglades, you did it in a circle. I said, that's a big piece land, just [Inaudible] is there potential for enlargement for additional facilities [Inaudible]?

DeSantis: There may be. I mean, I think what we're doing is because this is an important part of Florida, we're using the existing footprint of this airport. When you guys go over there, you'll see all the beds, the medical, the galley, everything is on the concrete. We're not using any of the other stuff. Now as you'll see, there's a lot of concrete. So there very well may be. I know Secretary Noem and her team have said as soon as the President departs, we'll be open to start receiving folks. And so we'll see what the tempo is. We do have the 2,000 in Northeast Florida that will open very soon. So it is possible to do. One of the things I think that is exciting about this is we're offering up our National Guard and other folks in Florida to be deputized to be immigration judges. We're working with the Department of Justice for the approvals. I'm sure Pam will approve. But then you have -- I'll have a National Guard judge advocate here. Someone has a notice to appear. Biden would tell him to come back in three years and appear, now you'll be able to appear in like a day or two. So they're not going to be detained hopefully for all that long. We'll have people here in this facility that can make -- it's a bureaucracy. The president's got to deal with the bureaucracy. Now, that Supreme Court ruling was good because that's going to allow him to be able to exercise Article 2 the way founders intended. But you still have bureaucracy, so we want to cut through that so that we have an efficient operation between Florida and DHS to get the removal of these illegals done.

Question: [Inaudible] prioritizing going after the worst of the worst or are you now arresting anyone who --

Trump: We're doing the worst of the worst, always the first and I think it's great government is what we've done. And nobody can ever forget that this group of people, Biden or whoever it was [Inaudible] Biden, whoever it was, what this what this group of people, a small group that circled the Resolute Desk, what they did to this country. Think of it, what you're [Inaudible] all the time, you have to race through this. It's an unforced error. We have nothing, we have no problem with this. It was never anything [Inaudible] we had great -- it was bad when I came in. Within three months, I fixed up -- this is in 2016. Now I come in, the difference is this was 20 times worse. Their open border policy did so much damage and we're fixing it, but the effort and the money and all the things that it takes to do [Inaudible] Yes.

Question: Mr. President, [Inaudible] Alligators in the Rio Grande [Inaudible] crossing in Texas, it is a dream come true for you, sir?

Trump: I was thinking about that. As I said, it was meant as a joke, but the more I thought about [Inaudible] and they were seriously -- they were actually crocodiles. They were crocodiles from Africa. They are a step beyond. But no, that was really meant as a joke, but a lot of people liked it, a lot of people think we should do it.

Question: The Senate appears about to vote on --

Trump: I hear we're doing well, Ron, I hear we're doing well.

Question: Are you confident this can get done by the 4th of July?

Trump: I don't know [Inaudible] like that [Inaudible] one vote [Inaudible] vote. I think so. I think it's going to be the greatest bill ever passed. Even for you [Inaudible] it's going to keep the borders secure. Because we have them secure now, but we need to build more walls. I built almost 600 miles of wall. We need more wall and all of that's covered in this bill. This bill is amazing for everybody. It's an amazing build for Florida too. It's really great.

Question: You've heard the concerns about the Medicaid, though, cuts. Mr. President --

Trump: No, no, we're not going to be playing with Medicaid, only waste, fraud and abuse. Yeah, the Democrats have it wrong. Yeah, waste fraud and abuse. In fact, if you look at what's gone on, we've gone way back. We take care of Medicaid and take care of Medicare. They will blow Medicare and Medicaid because they have no idea what they're doing. Just like they don't have any idea what they did on the border, they have no idea. Medicaid is in big trouble with the Democrats.

Question: But you can promise anyone who will lose their health care coverage, that is because of waste, fraud and abuse?

Trump: Waste, fraud -- only, waste, fraud and abuse, which is what everybody wants.

Question: Mr. President [Inaudible]

Trump: We'll see what happens. I'm watching it very closely.

Question: Mr. President? [Inaudible] Prime Minister Netanyahu's visit [Inaudible]

Donald Trump: Well, it's going to be a very quick celebration. We had a great hit. It was an obliteration, but they now turns out, it was [Inaudible] you know, they demean, CNN mostly, and the New York Times, say New York Times, they demean these great soldiers. They went over there 17 hours flying and they hit bullseye after bullseye after bullseye. It all blew up. Everybody's gone. Then they get back and CNN said, well, they did OK, but maybe it wasn't -- it was beyond obliteration. Nobody can even get down there. The tunnels are busted, everything fell into the well. It was a total and complete obliteration and we should celebrate these heroes. But what I'm doing is I'm bringing him on, we're bringing him to Florida, or to the White House. I gave him [Inaudible]

Question: Mr. President, there's going to be a new bill called Make American Elections Great Again --

Trump: Love it.

Question: -- forcing US Census Bureau to redo the census to actually get an account of how many Americans with proof of citizenship are in our area, in our country, [Inaudible] your thoughts on that?

Trump: Well, I speak for both of us. [Inaudible] you're going to like this. I know all about it. I want to bring our elections back. The election in 2020 was rigged, millions and millions of votes. It had to do with COVID and a lot of things, but it really had to do with [Inaudible] but the Democrats are very good at cheating elections and that's why I said [Inaudible] they tried this one too, but after about 902, they gave up [Inaudible] too big to rig. Ron would love it. I would love it. Kristi would love it. That's what they have to do. They have to bring it back and we have to look -- Ron, they include anybody that happens to be in your state.

DeSantis: In California -- California would lose like five seats if they did a fair census. And even beyond that, with Biden's census, it gipped Florida of at least one seat. We only got one seat in the last census. Are you trying to tell me that Florida only had one seat on that? We should have had at least two. Texas should have had another one. That could be the difference in the House of Representatives and the majority. So I would love for them to redo the census for '26. My legislature won't redistrict those lines. We'll get it to where it's fair. But as it is right now, this country is not fairly a fortune. I've got so many more millions of people in Florida that have representation because of that flawed census.

Trump: I think it's going to do very well, a lot of people, I don't know if you've heard that, but [Inaudible] it's captivated [Inaudible] everybody wants it. It's going to get in, it's going to pass and we're going to be very happy.

Question: Elon Musk is ripping into this bill again. Are you concerned that Republicans are going to be swayed by Musk and his money?

Trump: No, I don't think so. I think what's going to happen is DOGE is going to look at Musk. And if DOGE looks at Musk, we're going to save a fortune. Thank you very much, everybody. I don't think he should be playing that game [Inaudible]

Question: Thank you, Mr. President.

Trump: Thank you very much, everybody.

Transcript courtesy of CQ Factbase.

Haley Harris

Press Assistant

CHARLES E. SCHUMER

Unites States Senate Democratic Leader