Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared an emergency Friday. The National Guard was activated to assist with the influx of migrants arriving on boats along Florida’s coast.
According to the order, DeSantis gave authorization to state agencies to implement emergency response measures Jan. 6 in response to the Biden administration’s failure to control a record number migrants trying to cross the southern border to the U.S. DeSantis also authorized the National Guard’s deployment “as necessary, to address this emergency” because “the migration of undocumented aliens to Florida is likely to be a major catastrophe.”
The order stated that “the lawlessness at Southwest Border continues unabated” and that the Biden Administration had repeatedly shown its ineptness at managing the crisis it created. In consequence, illegal migrants are increasingly seeking entry into the U.S.
The order said that at least 345 illegal immigrants entered Florida between Jan. 3rd and Jan. 5. Additionally, multiple vessels were likely to be carrying illegal migrants bound for Florida’s shores. More than 8,000 migrants were arrested in the waters surrounding Florida’s peninsula between August 2022 and January 2023.
Customs and Border Patrol recorded a record number migrant encounters at all U.S. border crossings in the first two months fiscal year 2023. This began in October and included 460,000 at the southern border.
Nearly 500 illegal migrants arrived in Florida Keys on New Year’s Weekend. This forced a park to close down in the area as Florida law enforcement tried to capture all the arrivals. According to Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay’s Facebook post, Border Patrol told local police that they didn’t have enough federal resources to respond.
Ramsay’s office called the incident a “federal fail.”
Biden will make his first trip to the border since January 2021, when he was elected president. He then travels to Mexico to participate in the North American Leaders Summit. Biden will make a stop at El Paso, Texas on Sunday to visit the border. There, Oscar Leeser, Democratic El Paso Mayor, declared an emergency authorizing additional resources to assist migrants sleeping on streets.
The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to the White House for comment but they did not respond immediately.
