DeSantis sends more Florida troops to Texas amid border crisis

Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday announced announced the dispatch of National Guard and Florida State Guard troops to Texas to bolster the state's border security efforts amid an unprecedented surge in illegal crossings.

Under Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott, the Lone Star State has moved to secure the border in response to perceived federal apathy toward the influx of illegal immigrants. His efforts have prompted a litany of legal rows with Washington over the past few months. Florida personnel first arrived in Texas last year.

"States have every right to defend their sovereignty and we are pleased to increase our support to Texas as the Lone Star State works to stop the invasion across the border," he said in the announcement. "Our reinforcements will help Texas to add additional barriers, including razor wire along the border. We don’t have a country if we don’t have a border."

In total, the Sunshine State is deploying a full battalion of the National Guard, approximately 1,000 troops, to secure the border as well as an unspecified number of State Guardsmen.

Abbott last week asserted that Texas would defend itself and that its authority to do so "is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary."

His border enforcement efforts have drawn support from other Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, who urged states to send their National Guard to Texas to help.

"Instead of fighting to protect our Country from this onslaught, Biden is, unbelievably, fighting to tie the hands of Governor Abbott and the State of Texas, so that the Invasion continues unchecked. In the face of this National Security, Public Safety, and Public Health Catastrophe, Texas has rightly invoked the Invasion Clause of the Constitution, and must be given full support to repel the Invasion," Trump said at the time. "We encourage all willing States to deploy their guards to Texas to prevent the entry of Illegals, and to remove them back across the Border."

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.