Over a hundred Florida National Guard and highway patrol officers were bid farewell by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Friday as they prepared to move to Texas’ southern border.
He told a press conference, “This is a part of a years-long effort for us to help do what the federal government has refused to do.”
DeSantis congratulated the agents multiple times. The agents will be joining 90 Florida law enforcement officers who are currently at the border. According to him, a large number of the soldiers chose to go on the mission and had made several, varying-length deployments to Texas.
DeSantis also attacked the federal government for failing to take action against the “astronomical” migrant inflow that Texas has experienced recently.
Next, he declared his support for Governor Greg Abbott’s defense initiatives. The success of Abbott’s $10 billion border effort, Operation Lone Star, he claimed, was due in part to cooperation and backing from neighboring states.
“We want to be a part of that,” he stated, “partially just because we should have a secure country, and partially, the effects of this border invasion go to all 50 states.”
More than a dozen states, including West Virginia, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, have dispatched troops to the Texas border. Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota declared earlier this week that the state will be deploying sixty soldiers to the southern border during the ensuing three months.
Abbott’s proposals were endorsed by a statement signed in January by 25 out of the 27 Republican governors. It says, “Texas has every legal justification to protect the sovereignty of our states and our nation.”
Following a letter from Abbott and former Arizona governor Doug Ducey, Florida sent troops to Texas and Arizona for the first time in 2021. More than 2,400 law enforcement officers have been sent by the state to the border since then. The announcement of this reinforcement round came on February 1.
As stated in the press release, “We don’t have a country if we don’t have a border,” DeSantis was not present when Abbott invited 13 governors to Eagle Pass a few days later.
The announcement specifies that the troops will assist in building obstacles such as razor wire, but the use of force is ultimately up to Texas law police.
After all, he said, “We think this is an American issue. We’re going to continue to be in this fight until the problem is solved.”
