Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has announced that he will deploy resources to Texas to assist with the ongoing migrant crisis along the border. The resources being sent include law enforcement and drones from state agencies, as well as personnel, boats, and planes from the Florida National Guard.
The deployment is part of a larger effort by DeSantis to address the crisis and put pressure on the Biden administration to take action. The governor has previously offered assistance to both Texas and Arizona to help secure the border and has now turned his attention to Texas.
In a statement, DeSantis said the “impact 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.” He added that while Biden “ignores the crisis he created, Florida stands ready to help Texas respond to this crisis.”
The resources being sent to Texas include 101 Highway Patrol personnel, 200 Department of Law Enforcement officers, 800 National Guard soldiers, emergency management personnel, 17 unmanned drones, and 10 vessels, including airboats. These resources are being made available through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, which allows states to assist each other in times of emergency.
In addition to the deployment of resources to Texas, DeSantis has also taken other steps to address the migrant crisis. These include obtaining a two-week restraining order on the Biden administration’s attempts to release migrants into the U.S. on “parole with conditions” and flying migrants to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. He has also signed a bill that cracks down on illegal immigration in the state, including making it a felony to transport an illegal immigrant and mandating that businesses verify the immigration statuses of their workers.
The Biden administration has pushed back against DeSantis’s efforts, calling the restraining order “sabotage” and denying that it is engaging in any sort of “mass release” of migrants. However, in a court filing this week, the administration admitted that authorities had released more than 6,000 migrants in a single day.
The deployment of resources from Florida to Texas is the latest in a series of actions taken by DeSantis to address the migrant crisis. It remains to be seen if this deployment will help to alleviate the situation, but it is clear that the governor is committed to taking action.
