The Florida State Guard could send additional manpower to join enforcement along the Rio Grande. A total of 13 Republican governors have pledged resources to participate in Texas' "Operation Lone Star."
Since launching the effort three years ago, Governor Greg Abbott says the Texas National Guard and Department of Public Safety have apprehended 501,300 people crossing the border illegally, made 39,800 criminal arrests and seized 467 million lethal doses of fentanyl.
Abbott says Texas makes up two thirds of the border with Mexico but now accounts for just 30 percent of illegal crossings.
"The reason we've been able to achieve that level of decrease in illegal crossings is only because of great teamwork among agencies across the State of Texas," he said at a press conference in Eagle Pass earlier this month.
Abbott has said Texas would keep installing razor wire along the Rio Grande despite a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court allowing the Border Patrol to cut the wire down.
Florida has previously sent members of its National Guard and state police to work along the Texas border. At a hearing with a Florida Senate committee Monday, State Guard Director Mark Thieme said he has sent five members and has a platoon of 30 more on standby.
"That may provide support to checkpoint operations, distributed logistics, support public safety whether on land or on water," Thieme said.
The Florida State Guard responds to disasters and serves as a complement to the National Guard when its members are deployed overseas.
Thieme said the Florida State Guard is reviewing the Texas Division of Emergency Management's assistance request to see how its mission could be extended here.
"There have been no formal requests made by the State of Texas nor received and validated by the State of Florida for subsequent deployment," he told the Florida Senate Ethics and Elections Committee.
This Thursday, both Donald Trump and President Biden are planning visits to the Texas border. Donald Trump will stop in Eagle Pass; Joe Biden plans a visit in Brownsville.
"House Republicans should stop playing politics and pass the bipartisan border agreement we reached in the Senate, the toughest and fairest reforms in decades," Biden wrote on X.
The Trump campaign says the visit shows the president is now playing defense on immigration, saying Biden is chasing Trump after creating the "worst immigration crisis in history.”
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