Up to 1,000 Florida National Guard troops will be sent to the Texas border to stop the influx of migrants, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Thursday morning.
The soldiers will be deployed “based on Texas’ needs,” according to a press release on the Florida governor’s website.
The Florida State Guard will also be sent to Texas to support Gov. Greg Abbott’s effort to repel migrants at the border – which is the first time the group has been deployed out of state, the release noted.
These deployments are in addition to officers from the Florida Highway Patrol, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement that are already at the border, the office said.
The governor, 45, made the announcement standing in front of members of the Florida National Guard and an orange sign that read “stop the invasion” in bold, black letters.
“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,” DeSantis added.
“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,” he added.
The former Republican presidential candidate also slammed the Biden administration’s perceived inaction at the border in the wake of Customs and Border Patrol’s record 2.5 million illegal immigrant encounters in 2023.
“Biden has the authority to close this border today. If he wanted to, he lacks the will to get the job done. He lacks the capacity to see the problem for what it is and to get the job done,” DeSantis said of the president, according to Fox News Digital.
DeSantis’ announcement also comes just two days before the main Take Our Border Back (TOBB) rally is set to take place in Texas.
Robert Agee, who is organizing the Texas leg of the convoy headed to the rally, told The Post Wednesday that there will “not be 700,000 vehicles” taking part in the event as some supporters have claimed.
According to Agee, a Texas resident, about one hundred vehicles are currently making their way from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to Dripping Springs, just outside Austin, where they are expected to arrive tonight.
More people are expected to join the convoy from that point when it continues onto its final destination in Quemado, about 20 miles from Eagle Pass, where one of three rallies will be held.
A pre-rally will be held in Dripping Springs Thursday. Speakers will include sheriffs, political candidates, and TV journalists Laura Logan and Ann Vandersteel, Agee said.
The main rally will take place at the Cornerstone Children’s Ranch in Quemado, which sits directly opposite the Rio Grande.
“They’re purposefully putting out misinformation. Nobody involved in this convoy is racist or conspiracy theorist,” Agee told The Post of the TOBB movement’s critics.
“If you watch any of the interviews any of us have done or seen any material we’ve put out, you’ll realize these are just freedom loving Americans. Men and women of faith in a spiritual battle are going to assemble together and use our First Amendment rights to do so and we’re going to pray…So that’s slander from them and they’re completely discrediting what we’re doing,” he scoffed.