DeSantis sure does seem to have a penchant for doing horrible things as political stunts and then when they actually affect him, he’s “huh? Oh I didn’t mean it”.

Anyway, the entire Republican position on illegal immigration is working as intended, but perhaps he went too far. They know that immigrants come here for work, primarily, and for the most part they work for businesses owned and operated by conservatives - meatpacking, construction, roofing, agriculture. If the government really wanted to stop immigrant workers from coming to the US, the best way to do that would be by prosecuting or fining businesses who do things like have 25 workers using fake (sometimes even the same) social security numbers.

So, they don’t do that. They know full well immigrants provide valuable labor, in addition to being a useful target to whip up fascists resentment. Mainly, by marginalizing this group of the labor force, they achieve their dream for those industries: no worker comp, no health care, no real minimum wage, no OSHA reports, no mandatory breaks, no overtime. Workers know if they speak up about any of that or expect it they won’t just be fired, they’ll be detained and deported.