By Matt Dixon - NBC News
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Tuesday that he will send more than 1,100 state officers and National Guard agents to Texas to guard the southern border, a far greater number than he sent in 2021. The news comes just weeks before the expected announcement of his candidacy for president.
DeSantis has said for several weeks that he was preparing a plan focused on immigration, while intensifying his friction on the issue with President Joe Biden, whose Administration ended last Thursday Title 42, the health law that allowed since 2020 the express expulsion of hundreds of thousands of migrants to Mexico.
[Ron DeSantis, very close to announcing his candidacy for the 2024 elections]
"The impact of Biden's crisis at the border touches communities across the nation and the federal government's failure to do its duty undermines our country's sovereignty and the law," DeSantis said in a statement.
The governor said he will send to the border:
- 800 members of the Florida National Guard.
- 200 agents (in teams of 40) from local law enforcement agencies.
- 101 state highway patrol agents.
- 20 agents from the State Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Department of Emergency Management.
- 5 aircraft.
- 17 unmanned drones.
- 10 boats.
