Florida agents stopped more than 10,000 undocumented immigrants at the southern Texas border
Law enforcement and Florida National Guard forces sent to Texas since last May by Governor Ron DeSantis have intervened in the control of more than 10,000 undocumented immigrants on the southern border with Mexico, official sources reported Tuesday.
The troops sent by DeSantis assisted the Texas Department of Public Safety in the arrest of more than 600 people, “including a member of the MS-13 gang who was on the terrorist watch list” of the United States, reported the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM).
Some were charged with “felony offenses of human smuggling, drug trafficking or unlawful carrying of weapons.”
Last May DeSantis announced that he was sending aid to Texas to secure the southern border in the face of the immigration crisis that, in his opinion, U.S. President Joe Biden has created.
Among the troops sent to Texas are more than 300 soldiers from the Florida National Guard, whose mission is to “help” control the “massive migration on the southern border” by establishing “static observation points”, conducting “roving patrols” and the assistance of engineers to improve operations.
In addition, some thirty Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) agents remain deployed to assist in the investigation of “criminal activity along the border associated with human trafficking and drug and weapons smuggling.”
FDLE agents deployed drones on 531 occasions that assisted in identifying the location of 1,560 undocumented aliens, and seized cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana, drug paraphernalia, firearms and boxes of ammunition.
A total of 101 Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) agents, who are also part of the so-called Operation Lone Star, “repelled more than a hundred undocumented immigrants” who attempted to forcefully push across the Brownsville Bridge to illegally cross the U.S. border.
Patrolmen participated in 2,541 traffic stops, 79 commercial vehicle inspections and 47 pursuits.
Cross-Border Operations: FHP Apprehends Smugglers and Encounters Undocumented Immigrants from Diverse Countries, FWC Assists in Multiple Tasks
FHP agents apprehended two suspects involved in smuggling people into the United States and had “encounters” with undocumented immigrants from Brazil, China, Ecuador, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Cuba, Bolivia, Iran, Africa, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Colombia, El Salvador and Middle Eastern countries.
“All of them were apprehended and turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol,” FDEM notes.
Also on Texas soil are nearly 90 Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) officers providing assistance with “border security, intelligence gathering, humanitarian response, search and rescue efforts, and emergency medical services,” among other tasks.