Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced that hundreds of troops from the Florida National Guard will be sent to assist federal officials with enforcing the southern border, which has experienced a record influx of illegal crossings.
“The impacts of Biden’s Border Crisis are felt by communities across the nation, and the federal government’s abdication of duty undermines the sovereignty of our country and the rule of law,” DeSantis said in an official statement. “At my direction, state agencies including law enforcement and the Florida National Guard are being deployed to Texas, with assets including personnel, boats and planes. While Biden ignores the crisis he created, Florida stands ready to help Texas respond to this crisis.”
In addition to the National Guard troops, Florida will also be sending:
- 101 Florida Highway Patrol Troopers
- 200 Florida Department of Law Enforcement Officers, in teams of 40
- 20 Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Officers
- 20 Emergency Management Personnel – including radio technicians, logisticians, mechanics and planners
- Five available fixed wing aircraft with monitoring equipment and downlink capabilities with two aviation crew teams
- Two Mobile Command Vehicles and two command teams
- 17 available unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) and support teams
- 10 vessels – including airboats, shallow draft vessels, and mid-range vessels
“We stand with Texas as they work to repel illegal aliens at the border,” Florida Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie said. “We are prepared to assist however needed.”
Last autumn, DeSantis made national headlines when he assisted Texas with routing illegal immigrants to Martha's Vineyard. DeSantis enjoyed two legal victory regarding illegal immigration, as federal Judge T. Kent Wetherell sided with the Florida Attorney General in a lawsuit which alleged that President Joe Biden's administration violated federal law with its 'non-detention' policy on illegal immigrants. Leon County Circuit Judge Angela Dempsey dismissed a different lawsuit against DeSantis and the state's department of transportation which alleged that they didn’t comply with public-records request regarding the relocation of undocumented immigrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, with a layover in Florida.
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