DeSantis sending more Florida personnel to Texas amid border security efforts

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis announced an increase in Florida personnel to Texas at a press conference in Jacksonville Thursday.

Officials from the Florida National Guard, Florida State Guard and Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles joined the governor in his announcement.

The governor’s office said that nearly 1,000 soldiers, or one full battalion of National Guard members, are being offered to Texas.

The Florida State Guard is also deploying there, DeSantis announcing it’s the first time the renewed force has been deployed out of state.

A sign at the conference read “stop the invasion,” referring to mass amounts of migrants flooding border states like Texas.

DeSantis warned that the border crisis has gotten worse since President Joe Biden took office, pointing to human smuggling and trafficking, fentanyl dealing and seizures, and violent crimes from people in the U.S. illegally.

The governor called on American states to “band together,” saying the U.S. must defend its border, or face losing its sovereignty.

The Biden administration has been insistent on tearing down erected border barriers as Texas Gov. Greg Abbot uses state resources to guard the border, citing the state’s right to self defense from invasion under the U.S. Constitution.

The governor’s office boasted that personnel have helped intercept tens of thousands of illegal aliens along the border.

DeSantis had originally began sending state agents to Texas in 2021.

He also bolstered support for Texas’ “Operation Lone Star” last May.

DeSantis recently said that the American Founding Fathers wouldn’t agree that the federal government can use force to prevent a state from defending itself from a mass migrant “invasion” and backed a proposed law allowing the Florida State Guard operate in other states like Texas.

“I think that what’s happening in Texas is not just a Texas issue, it’s an American issue,” DeSantis said. “And you have a situation where you’ve had over 8 million people pour into this country illegally just in the last three years.”

The governor argues that the constitution was not designed for the federal government to “prohibit” states from exercising their rights. He mentioned that it was important for the states to stand up in order to “ensure the sovereignty of their territory.”

“They have every right to fortify the border, vis-a-vis an invasion. That’s Article I, Section 10 of the Constitution,” he said. “They’re in the right.”