DeSantis sends Florida National Guard to Texas to help stop illegal immigrants from entering US

DeSantis said in a statement, "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."

He added, "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."

According to the governor’s office, the Sunshine State has over 1,100 assets and resources available to assist, including 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.

Fox News reported that the resources are being made available through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, an agreement that allows states to assist each other in times of emergency.

Both Texas and Florida are part of the agreement and DeSantis had previously helped both Texas and Arizona with law enforcement support at the beginning of President Joe Biden’s illegal immigration crisis in 2021.

Chris Olivarez, Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson, wrote in response, "We welcome the support from the state of Florida as they will provide additional law enforcement resources to help combat criminal activity & interdict deadly narcotics."

Before the end of the Title 42 public health order last week, which allowed for the rapid expulsion of migrants at the border, the number of illegal immigrants surged ahead with encounters of more than 10,000 a day.

Hours before the order ended, Florida secured a major court victory by obtaining a two-week restraining order on the Biden administration’s attempts to release illegal immigrants into the US on "parole with conditions."

DeSantis had also previously flown illegal immigrants to Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts and signed a bill that makes it a felony to transport an illegal immigrant as well as mandates that businesses verify the immigration statuses of their workers.

Earlier on Tuesday, DeSantis said as he signed bills to crack down on human trafficking in the state, "With respect to this border issue, we've gotten injunctions on them doing mass releases, and we're staying on them (The Biden administration) …because it's a really important issue to actually have sovereignty in our country and have the rule of law upheld."

He added, "We've also, as a state, from really the beginning of the Biden administration, been leaning in on the issue, including helping Texas in the past, and we've offered a number of assets, boats, planes, and personnel to help now. And so we stand by ready to help with that because I think what you're seeing is going to be really, really bad, potentially very shortly."