OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Former 2024 GOP presidential contender Ron DeSantis has offered up a plan that would prevent President Biden from federalizing National Guard troops sent to Texas just days after former President Donald Trump, his onetime rival whom he endorsed last week, said states should consider deploying them to the Lone Star state.
On Friday, the Florida governor endorsed legislation that would allow him to deploy the Florida State Guard — a militia-like military force reestablished during the COVID pandemic — to Texas. Being a true state force, Biden would have no constitutional authority to order them into federal service and thus take command of them.
Florida’s Voice reported:
DeSantis affirmed his support for legislation during a press conference that would allow for Florida to send its state guard to Texas in order to help with the flow of illegal immigration into the United States.
The bill by Rep. Mike Giallombardo, R-Cape Coral, HB 1551, would allow for the Florida State Guard to occupy and operate within other states, so long as the other states have a mutual agreement on the matter with Florida.
“I think that what’s happening in Texas is not just a Texas issue, it’s an American issue,” DeSantis said. “And you have a situation where you’ve had over 8 million people pour into this country illegally just in the last three years.”
He went on to say that Florida has sent personnel to help along the U.S.-Mexico border in the recent past.
“You’ve got people from China, you’ve got people from Iran, other parts of the Middle East, North Africa, Russia. This is not just people coming from Mexico,” he added.
“A lot of the people, anyone that wants to do us harm, will look at that border as the easiest, softest underbelly this country has right now,” DeSantis continued.
He said that the State Guard was reestablished in 2022 in part to push back on the Biden administration’s coronavirus mandates for the U.S. military and Guard forces.
“So we did the state guard partially for that, but then for partially it’s just you control your own destiny with the state guard,” DeSantis said. “I mean, the federal government will grab our national guardsman, and they’ll send them all over the world in some of these missions.”
“So why should we just have people who get plucked out of here to be doing whatever these guys in Washington want,” he continued. “If these are people serving the state, then we want to be able to have control over that.”
Several other governors — all Republicans — have pledged to send Guard troops to Texas while the state continues to grapple with record numbers of migrants crossing into the U.S. illegally. But as more governors offered their forces, some Democrats stepped up and called on Biden to federalize them, thus taking operational control away from state leaders.
Trump has also called on “willing” states to deploy their National Guard to Texas to assist Gov. Greg Abbott in dealing with the ongoing “invasion” of illegal immigrants amid a Biden administration deadline to cease and desist.
On his Truth Social platform, the leading GOP presidential contender called on “willing states to deploy their [national guard] to Texas to prevent the entry” of illegal immigrants.
Trump’s call comes in response to Abbott declaring an “invasion” of his state and invoking his right to “self-defense” under Article I of the U.S. Constitution.
“When I was President, we had the most secure Border in History. Joe Biden has surrendered our Border, and is aiding and abetting a massive Invasion of millions of Illegal Migrants into the United States,” Trump wrote on Thursday.
“Instead of fighting to protect our Country from this onslaught, Biden is, unbelievably, fighting to tie the hands of Governor Abbott and the State of Texas, so that the Invasion continues unchecked. In the face of this National Security, Public Safety, and Public Health Catastrophe, Texas has rightly invoked the Invasion Clause of the Constitution, and must be given full support to repel the Invasion,” he continued.
