Ron DeSantis: ‘Bad Policies’ Created the Problem on the Southern Border

“Bad policies” have created the problem on the southern border, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Wednesday, the day the state announced it is sending local and state law enforcement to Texas and Arizona as part of an effort to assist the states in the ongoing border crisis.

“We have a crisis at our border – a crisis created by bad policies,” DeSantis said. “With the federal government unable to get the job done, Texas and Arizona have asked for help to secure our border and Florida is answering the call”:

“As a result of the Biden Administration’s open border policies, attempts at drug trafficking and human trafficking have also increased,” the governor’s press office said:

FBI Director Christopher Wray recently said that there is “no question” that Mexican cartel activity has crossed the border into the U.S. In just January to April of this year, the Texas Department of Public Safety seized nearly 95 pounds of fentanyl in Texas. That equates to 21.5 million lethal doses of this drug. That is a spike compared to 2020, when the same agency seized only 11 pounds over the first four months.

According to multiple former border patrol agents, children are being used by human traffickers who pose as a family to make their way across the border. These human trafficking attempts are now unchecked by the Biden Administration, which has put pressure on officials to release families within 72 hours and canceled policies that required families to wait before crossing the border while their case was being reviewed. As a result of these policies, according to a recent UNICEF report, there are nine times more migrant children in Mexico than there were at the start of 2021.

Florida’s move follows a plea from Gov. Doug Ducey (R-AZ) and Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX), both of whom signed a joint letter to fellow U.S. governors, requesting law enforcement support.

“Securing our border with Mexico is the federal government’s responsibility,” they wrote, observing that the Biden administration has proven “unwilling or unable to do the job.”

While the governors identified that the chaos will spill over in “every state,” their states stand as “ground zero” for the crisis.

“Given the staggering number of violations now occurring in Texas and Arizona, additional manpower is needed from any State that can spare it,” they wrote:

Florida answered that call Wednesday.

“America’s border security crisis impacts every state and every American,” DeSantis(R) said. “The Biden Administration ended policies implemented by President Trump that were curbing illegal immigration, securing our border, and keeping Americans safe.”

“Governors Abbott and Ducey recently sent out a call for help to every state in the nation, needing additional law enforcement manpower and other resources to aid with border security,” he said, announcing the Sunshine State’s commitment to “answering the call.”

“Florida has your back,” he added.

“As Attorney General, I am dedicated to ending human trafficking, protecting our children from sexual predators, and fighting the opioid crisis now claiming 21 lives a day in our state, but President Biden is hurting, not helping us achieve these vital public safety goals,” Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said in a statement.

“The crisis the President created at our southern border makes all of us less safe, and I am proud to stand with Governor DeSantis as he tries to fix the President’s disaster at the border to protect Floridians,” she added.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials seized “934 pounds of fentanyl at the southern border in May, a 300 percent increase over last May,” as Breitbart News reported.

“President Biden’s open border policies have led to a surge in this deadly drug coming into our communities,” Abbott said in a statement on May 27.

“We must do more to combat this crisis, which is why I intend to sign legislation that will create a specific felony offense for the manufacturing or delivery of fentanyl,” he added.