Amidst massive unrest in Haiti in which the president appears to have been deposed and replaced by a warlord known as “barbeque” as gangs control much of the country, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has announced that he will deploy troops and other state defense assets to southern Florida. He characterized the deployments as protecting the state from potential illegal immigration from Haiti.
Such is what his office announced in a press release on March 13. Explaining the context of the new deployments of state defense resources, the press release said, “In anticipation of a potential influx of illegal immigrants from Haiti, Governor Ron DeSantis has ordered additional state assets to the Keys and southern waters of the State of Florida.”
The statement went on to note that some assets are already deployed and others soon will be. It said, “Currently, state agencies have security and surveillance assets in South Florida and the Keys as a part of Operation Vigilant Sentry to stop illegal immigration at sea. The governor’s directive today will send additional personnel and assets from the following agencies.”
Continuing, it listed the new assets to be deployed to the regime amidst the Haitian unrest. Those are, “The Florida Department of Law Enforcement: 39 additional officers“; “The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission: 23 additional officers with eight additional seacraft“; “The Florida National Guard: 48 additional Guardsmen with four additional helicopters“; “The Florida Highway Patrol: 30 additional officers with an additional aircraft and drones for surveillance.”
The press release then noted that, in addition to those law enforcement and National Guard resources, the state’s State Guard will be deployed to help defend the state. “Governor DeSantis will also today authorize a deployment of the Florida State Guard to the Keys to assist in the operation. This deployment includes up to 133 soldiers,” it noted.
Returning to explanation of the policy, the statement skewered the federal government for not defending America’s borders from illegal immigration. It said, “Illegal immigrants feel empowered to enter the sovereign territory of the United States because of the federal government’s refusal to diligently enforce our immigration laws and protect the integrity of the border. When a state faces the possibility of invasion, it has the right and duty to defend its territory and people. Under Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida will act.”
Governor DeSantis, commenting on the deployments and highlighting Florida’s efforts in defending the border, said, “For quite some time, the State of Florida has been dedicating significant resources to combat illegal vessels coming to Florida from countries such as Haiti. Given the circumstances in Haiti, I have directed the Division of Emergency Management, the Florida State Guard, and state law enforcement agencies to deploy over 250 additional officers and soldiers and over a dozen air and sea craft to the southern coast of Florida to protect our state. No state has done more to supplement the (under-resourced) U.S. Coast Guard’s interdiction efforts; we cannot have illegal aliens coming to Florida.”
Anthony Sabatini, a conservative critic of Gov. DeSantis, argued on X that the new policy is mostly for show and will do little to rectify the illegal immigration situation. He claimed, “There is NOTHING in your statement indicating that you will be directing our resources to BLOCK boats & invaders. We don’t need to be using state resources to help the federal government’s collection of invaders & to send them into the US—which is what’s been happening at the southern border. No more “press release” actions & orders that amount to nothing but supplementing & expanding the Open Border. We need an actual plan to PREVENT the invasion and an order directing our resources to BLOCK invader boats. We are out of time.”
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