(C) Florida Phoenix
This story was originally published by Florida Phoenix and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



DeSantis sending fresh troops to join Texas’ border standoff with Biden administration [1]

['Michael Moline', 'More From Author', '- February']

Date: 2024-02-01  

Gov. Ron DeSantis will deploy as many as 1,000 Florida National Guard troops, plus members of his Florida State Guard and law enforcement officers, to back up Texas in its standoff with the Biden administration over the U.S.-Mexico border.

The governor, who long has complained about border enforcement, announced the deployment Thursday during a news conference in Jacksonville, flanked by uniformed law officers and military personnel. He didn’t say exactly how many people will make the trip.

“It’s sad that you don’t have a president willing to just put his foot down and say I’m not going to let this happen to my country. But in the absence of that leadership and the face of dereliction of duty we’re going to step up and do our job,” DeSantis said.

The fresh troops will join 90 officers of the Florida Highway Patrol, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and Florida Department of Law Enforcement that DeSantis has already deployed to the border, according to numbers provided by the governor’s office.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has erected razor wire around a park located along the border in Eagle Pass, Texas, and denied U.S. border enforcement agents from access, as reported by Phoenix partner The Texas Tribune.

The U.S. Supreme Court, citing federal primacy over border control, on Jan. 22 ordered Texas to grant access to the feds but Abbott has refused, drawing support from other Republican governors including DeSantis. Now Florida is backing up Abbott with fresh troops.

“Texas has the right to erect barriers. They were not even a party to that [Supreme Court] decision. I think they’re continuing to do what they’re going to do, and we are going to assist them in doing that,” DeSantis said.

During his press conference, DeSantis all but dared President Joe Biden to try something.

“Are you going to have folks go in and forcibly remove barriers so that more people can come in illegally? I don’t think that’s a decision he would want to do, particularly now that we’re in this election year, DeSantis said.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://floridaphoenix.com/2024/02/01/desantis-sending-fresh-troops-to-join-texas-border-standoff-with-biden-administration/

Published and (C) by Florida Phoenix
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/floridaphoenix/