Gov. Ron DeSantis has mobilized the National Guard and law enforcement units against “a potential influx of illegal immigrants” from Haiti, where armed gangs have taken control of large sections of the capital of Port-au-Prince.
That’s the way the governor’s office put it in a press release announcing his mobilization of “state assets to the Keys and southern waters of the state of Florida.”
“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,” DeSantis said in a written statement.
“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 Florid,” he added.
“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 Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida will act,” the press release says.
The press release said nothing about the humanitarian crisis.
Blame Biden
The Florida Guard comprises more than 12,000 troops, according to a recent Florida legislative request that Congress add strength to the organization. That’s one for every 1,833 residents, placing Florida No. 53 among the 54 states and territories.
The state was already contributing to immigration-control efforts in the Caribbean; the new push will add 39 Florida Department of Law Enforcement officers; 23 Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers with eight additional seacraft; 48 guardsmen with an additional aircraft and drones; 30 state troopers; and 133 members of the Florida State Guard, according to the governor’s office.
Assistant Secretary of Defense Rebecca Zimmerman told a Congressional committee Tuesday that the agency hadn’t seen maritime mass migration” yet but that “we are alert to that possibility. I think you’re right that the driving conditions in Haiti could very well press more people. We recently approved some additional assistance we could provide to the Coast Guard,” Fox News reported.
Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry is in Puerto Rico and unable to return to his capital because criminal gangs have closed the airports amid attacks on public institutions, banks, and private homes and businesses, the AP has reported. Henry has announced his willingness to stand down amid plans to convene a governing council but those efforts have broken down. The attacks, which have resulted in scores of deaths, began in late February as Henry was in Africa discussing introduction of a Kenyan police force.