Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced on Wednesday that he is deploying more than 250 soldiers and law enforcement officers, as well as a fleet of aircraft and boats, to “stop a potential influx of illegal immigration” from Haiti.
The governor’s order, which will strengthen security measures in the Florida Keys and the waters off the state’s southern coast, comes in response to an explosion of gang violence that has thrown the island nation into chaos, potentially displacing thousands of people.
“Given the circumstances in Haiti, I have directed the Division of Emergency Management, the Florida State Guard, and state law enforcement agencies to deploy over 250 additional officers and soldiers and over a dozen air and sea craft to the southern coast of Florida to protect our state,” Governor DeSantis wrote in a statement announcing the order. “No state has done more to supplement the (under-resourced) U.S. Coast Guard’s interdiction efforts; we cannot have illegal aliens coming to Florida.”
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The additional deployments will supplement the existing security and surveillance assets of “Operation Vigilant Sentry,” which works to intercept illegal boat migrants in the Caribbean. The reinforcements will include:
- 39 officers from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement
- 23 officers and 8 seacraft from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
- 48 Guardsmen and 4 helicopters from the Florida National Guard
- 30 officers, an additional aircraft, and multiple surveillance drones from the Florida Highway Patrol
- 133 soldiers from the Florida State Guard
“Illegal immigrants feel empowered to enter the sovereign territory of the United States because of the federal government’s refusal to diligently enforce our immigration laws and protect the integrity of the border,” the governor’s order continued. “When a state faces the possibility of invasion, it has the right and duty to defend its territory and people. Under Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida will act.”
Concerns about the possibility of a migrant invasion from Haiti are not limited only to the Florida governor. As Valuetianment previously reported, US Border Patrol agents throughout the state were put on high alert earlier this week following the forced resignation of Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry. With the prime minister ousted, notorious gang leader Jimmy “Barbeque” Chérizier has become the most powerful man in Haiti, leading an army of liberated prison inmates (and possible cannibals) against the remnants of the government.
Related: US Braces for Haitian Migrant Surge as Gang Wars Rage and Prime Minister Resigns
Fears about unchecked migration were also echoed by Pentagon officials testifying before Congress, with one General warning that “the deterioration of conditions in Haiti” will displace record numbers of the island’s residents.
More than 70,000 Haitian immigrants were encountered at the Southern border in 2023. In 2021, a similar surge led to an encounter with Border Patrol during which agents were falsely accused of whipping migrants crossing the Rio Grande.
Connor Walcott is a staff writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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