Governor Ron DeSantis was in Pensacola Friday, where he announced that he was sending 76 Florida Highway Patrol troopers and up to 200 members of the Florida National Guard to Texas to help with the fight against illegal immigration.

The FHP troopers will be assisting authorities in San Antonio with border patrol efforts for the next three weeks. The National Guard troops are also headed to Texas, but to a different location.

DeSantis said it’s part of his commitment to defend the country’s borders as people from around the world, including China, continue to “pour” into the United States illegally. He claimed the result is an increase in drugs across the country, such as fentanyl, and other issues that occur when people aren’t a legal part of the workforce or population.

“We think this is an American issue partially because we should have a secure country and then partially the effects of this border invasion go to all 50 states, so we’re thankful for our folks,” DeSantis said. “We’re supposed to be a great country and you can’t even maintain control of your own territory and your own border. We’re part of the solution here in Florida. We’re happy to continue to still be in this fight.”

The governor held the press conference outside the Florida Department of Law Enforcement office in Pensacola, where FHP officers and National Guard troops lined up behind him during the announcement.

Florida already has 90 officers from the Florida Highway Patrol, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement stationed at the border. DeSantis announced earlier that Florida will send up to 1,000 of its own National Guard members and State Guard volunteers to assist Texas, as the state has done with other Florida agencies over the past two years.

DeSantis revived the State Guard in 2022, and the Legislature increased funding from $10 million to $107.6 million. The force tripled from 400 to 1,500 members last year. 

The Highway Patrol troopers and National Guard members left for Texas in their vehicles shortly after the press conference. Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Executive Director Dave Kerner was there to wish the troops safe travels and encourage them in their mission.

Kerner said they’ll be assisting in a variety of ways. Some will team up with the Department of Public Safety and the Texas Highway Patrol. Others will partner with the criminal investigation division, and others have more discreet missions, said Kerner, who didn’t elaborate with details. He added what happens at the border in Texas impacts Florida, too.

“We’ve connected how it translates into the state of Florida,” said Kerner. “We see through our traffic enforcement and through our criminal investigations how, what I call the cartel industrial complex, is felt in Florida. How that fentanyl gets here. It’s been a very eye-opening experience for these troopers. Every time we send a wave of troopers out there, it is in defense of the state of Florida.”

DeSantis said increased security at the border is working, along with other policy initiatives like banning sanctuary cities in Florida, cracking down on smuggling, and people working in the state illegally. He said keeping up the pressure has discouraged people from coming here illegally.

“If you look at the people coming across the border now three years ago, Florida was one of the places that they said they wanted to go,” DeSantis said. “Now you don’t see as many that are talking about Florida, because I think they realize that if they go to sanctuary states or sanctuary cities that they’re going to have more benefits. That is the way that you do it and that is the way you get the job done.”

The FHP force headed to Texas includes troopers from departments across the state.