Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) criticized the Trump administration on Tuesday over its decision to grant student visas to as many as 600,000 Chinese students.

“​​To put it in perspective, the state of Florida — we’re the third largest state in the United States — the total number of students in our entire state university system, 12 universities, is a little over 300,000,” DeSantis said on Fox News’s The Ingraham Angle. “So that would mean you’re almost doubling the entire population of the Florida State University system with just Chinese students.”

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President Donald Trump agreed to give the student visas in trade negotiations with China. Trump defended the move, saying he is “honored to have the students from China come here.”

“I like that their students come here, and I like that other countries’ students come here, and you know what would happen if they didn’t? Our college system would go to hell very quickly,” Trump told reporters Tuesday.

This commitment to issuing more student visas comes after Secretary of State Marco Rubio cut 6,000 student visas and pledged that Chinese visas would be “aggressively revoked.” Rubio also said future visa applications from China would undergo enhanced review.

Meanwhile, the number of Chinese nationals illegally crossing the Florida border increased by 8,000% in 2024.

“As we know, there is a significant percentage of the Chinese students that are engaged with the CCP,” DeSantis said. “First of all, the fact that we have 300,000 [Chinese students] now is way out of bounds from what I think most people would want to see. I would rather see those slots go to American students.”

CONSERVATIVES SPLIT OVER TRUMP MOVE ALLOWING 600,000 CHINESE STUDENTS IN US SCHOOLS

A disagreement between DeSantis and the Trump administration is reminiscent of the Florida governor’s 2024 campaign against Trump. DeSantis, who is term-limited in 2026, could face Vice President JD Vance, who is “most likely” the next Republican presidential nominee, according to Trump, if he runs for president again in 2028.

The Washington Examiner reached out to the White House and DeSantis for comment.