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Flanked by dozens of law enforcement personnel at a press conference in Pensacola, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Wednesday that Florida will send its own law enforcement officers to the Mexican border in Arizona and Texas to combat what DeSantis called a "created crisis" at the southern border that he claims has led to increased criminal activity in Florida.

The announcement comes a week after Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sent a joint letter to the governors of the 48 other states asking them to send additional law enforcement staff and resources to help patrol their states' borders with Mexico.

DeSantis said Florida is the first state to answer those governors' calls for mutual aid.

"We're here today because we have problems in Florida that are not organic to Florida that we've been forced to deal (with) over many years, but particularly over the last six months, because of the failure of the Biden administration to secure our southern border," DeSantis said. "And, indeed, to really do anything constructive about what is going on in the southern border."

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Sheriffs from Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Lee, Bay and Brevard counties attended the press conference and stood behind the governor as he spoke. A sign bearing the phrase "Secure Our Border, Secure Our States" was taped to the front of the podium by a staffer just prior to the governor making his remarks. 

DeSantis offered little in the way of specific details about the mutual aid, although he said that officers likely  would be deployed to the border for a period of 16 days. Sheriffs from the seven counties have volunteered to send deputies and officers to the border, and DeSantis said he hopes more Florida counties will step up as well. 

Law enforcement officers from the Florida Highway Patrol, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement also will be sending agents. It isn't clear what exactly the Florida officers will be doing at the border or how the mutual aid agreement will work out legally, logistically or strategically.

"We'll have more information about the contours of the mutual assistance, which, you see all these folks here stepping up," DeSantis said, pointing to the dozens of sheriffs and deputies behind him. "I'm sure in each one of these sheriff's departments, they have deputies champing at the bit to be able to go help. ... I think there's a lot of folks like, 'Man, I wish I could do something to help.' Well they have an opportunity to do it. I think you're going to see a lot of hands go up saying, 'Hey, send me, I want to be helpful.'"

During the press conference, DeSantis slammed President Joe Biden's revocation of former President Donald Trump's immigration policies, calling the border crisis a "created crisis" that was directly a result of Biden's policy reversals. In particular, DeSantis said that methamphetamine has been "flooding in" over the southern border and has made its way into Florida communities.

"I can tell you, if you talk to some of these North Florida sheriffs, in Northwest Florida who are dealing with the meth problem that we're seeing, it's really ravaging communities particularly in the northern part of our state," DeSantis said. "If you go back 10, 20 years ago, you'd find where they'd be cooking this stuff up locally. It's almost all coming across the southern border now, and it's accelerated in the last six months."

Attorney General Ashley Moody also attended the press conference and praised the governor's announcement, citing an increase in fentanyl seizures and sexual offenses that she said are ravaging U.S. communities.

"Make no mistake, when the Biden administration began, it took a wrecking ball to the infrastructure controlling immigration at our southern border, and it left the devastation for the states to deal with with no plan, no strategy, no enforcement action in place," Moody said.

There's no timeline yet for when or how many deputies from Escambia or Santa Rosa counties will go to the border. 

Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons said he stepped up to the governor's call to help at the border because drugs that flow over the southern border lead directly to crimes that happen within Escambia County.

"We talked a little bit about methamphetamine and how it's (coming) from the border. We talked a little bit about fentanyl. It's easy to say that, but let me tell you about how that hits home here in a place like Escambia County. (There's) not a shooting, not a violent crime that goes by that we investigate that's not involving methamphetamine," Simmons said at the press conference.

"Not a day goes by at all, we don’t go to a call where someone overdoses on fentanyl," he continued. "We can talk about the sheer numbers and the pounds and the kilos coming from the border through the interstate into our own Escambia County. But what does that mean? It means people are dying in our city streets, our county streets and it makes a difference. … We acknowledge this is an issue, this is a problem, we have got to come together and do something with it."

Annie Blanks can be reached at ablanks@pnj.com or 850-435-8632. 

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