Florida. In an effort to support the Texas National Guard in halting the surge of illegal immigration across the southern border, Governor Ron DeSantis declared the official deployment of his state’s National Guard.
On February 1st, DeSantis declared that up to 1,000 troops of the Florida National Guard (FNG) will be sent to Texas’ southern border. The Florida State Guard will also be with the FNG members. The deployment, according to DeSantis, will be “based on Texas’ needs.”
DeSantis reiterated in a statement that every state has “every right” to protect its sovereignty and that Florida is “happy to increase… support to Texas” as the state “works to stop the invasion” of people who are not legally allowed to be in the country. According to the governor of Florida, Americans “don’t have a country” without a border.
Following Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s defiance of a Supreme Court ruling last month permitting Border Patrol officers to proceed with removing razor wire Texas had put along the southern border, DeSantis pledged the deployment right away. The court’s ruling came after an event in which three individuals perished while attempting to enter the United States illegally over the Rio Grande River; the Border Patrol attempted to enter the location where the immigrants perished but was denied entry by Texas law enforcement.
Abbott said in a statement on January 24th that the federal government has left Texas with no choice but to take matters into its own hands by failing to fulfill its own responsibility to enforce existing immigration laws, and that the southern border crisis is an invasion, following the court’s approval. Abbott has been defended by other Republican governors since taking the stand, and the Border Patrol has defied the court’s directive to remove barriers.
DeSantis has previously dispatched aid to the Texas border. Texas is not fighting this battle alone, as the Sunshine State has been dispatching law enforcement and military personnel to the Lone Star State since 2021.
