Legal Insurrection by Terrance Kible Friday, June 16, 2023
Florida and Texas continue to collaborate in combatting illegal immigration with interstate training and enforcement partnershipsFlorida Governor Ron DeSantis and Texas Governor Greg Abbott separately announced numerous measures to address “Biden’s Border Crisis” and mitigate the impact of illegal immigration. The measures included interstate partnerships, the reassignment of personnel to secure the border, and a grant program to compensate landowners for damage due to border crime.
DeSantis announced new measures during a border meeting with “sheriffs from Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and across the country.” He announced the creation of “an inter-state law enforcement partnership to bring Florida’s successful anti-illegal immigration policies and practices to more American communities.”
DeSantis’s partnership “includes a training program developed by the Florida Highway Patrol and the Florida National Guard’s Counterdrug Task Force which will be made available to law enforcement agencies across the United States.”
DeSantis also issued an update on Operation Lone Star, which reallocates Florida law enforcement resources to help Texas secure its border. Texas requested the resources through the Interstate Emergency Management Assistance Compact, which “offers assistance during governor-declared states of emergency or disaster.”
According to the update, hundreds of Florida law enforcement officers remained in Texas, including units from the Florida National Guard, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Abbott signed six bills that “will expand Texas’ unprecedented efforts to hold the line and protect Texans from the record level of illegal immigration, weapons, and deadly drugs”:
Senate Bill 423 authorizes the Texas military “to use unmanned aircrafts as part of an operation, exercise, or mission” and authorizes “the use of drones for search and recovery missions after natural disasters and for monitoring the Texas-Mexico border as part of Operation Lone Star.”
Senate Bill 602 authorizes U.S. Border Patrol agents who have undergone Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) training to enforce Texas law for felony offenses.
Senate Bill 1133 establishes “a grant program to compensate agricultural landowners up to $75,000 for property damage caused by trespassers committing a border crime.”
Senate Bill 1403 authorizes Abbott “to coordinate and execute an interstate compact for border security among interested states without congressional approval.” The compact “will allow participating states to share law enforcement intelligence and resources for heightened detection and deterrence of illegal border activity.”
Senate Bill 1484 establishes “a collaborative border operations training program through DPS for peace officers employed by local law enforcement agencies along the border.”
Senate Bill 1900 “designates Mexican drug cartels and criminal organizations as foreign terrorist organizations in the State of Texas and increases penalties for the destruction of illegal drugs and the operation of stash houses.”
Abbott “also announced the deployment of new marine floating barriers to deter illegal crossings in hotspots along the Rio Grande River” to “proactively prevent illegal crossings between ports of entry by making it more difficult to cross the Rio Grande and reach the Texas side of the southern border.”
Legal Insurrection has covered Texas and Florida’s actions on illegal immigration. Texas recently announced the state would continue bussing illegal immigrants to sanctuary cities, even as many of those cities struggled to cope with the influx of illegal immigrants.
More:
https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/06/florida-texas-announce-suite-of-measures-to-combat-illegal-immigration/
