Gov. Ron DeSantis highlights push to combat undocumented immigration at Pensacola stop

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced three new efforts by his administration to take action on drug trafficking and human trafficking of undocumented immigrants in Florida during a press conference in Pensacola on Friday.

DeSantis announced the creation of a law enforcement strike force between state law enforcement and sheriffs' offices to crack down on drug trafficking and human trafficking.

The governor also said his administration filed a petition with the Florida Supreme Court calling for a state grand jury to investigate the impact of human smuggling networks and drug trafficking in Florida, as well as "sanctuary jurisdictions" created by local governments in the state.

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DeSantis also signed bill SB 1808 into law that prohibits any government in Florida from doing business with transportation companies that carry undocumented immigrants except for detention or deportation. The law is aimed at companies that conduct flights for the federal government to transport migrant children to any close relative or guardian while they await asylum hearings.

DeSantis has been critical of the program, which has conducted several flights to Jacksonville, saying it's creating a security risk for Floridians.

Democrat U.S. Rep. Al Lawson has publicly pushed back against DeSantis on the issue, noting that the program has been in existence since the George W. Bush administration.

Speaking Friday at the Escambia County Sheriff's Office in Pensacola, DeSantis stood behind a podium that read "Biden's Border Crisis."

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"This is something that absolutely affects (Florida)," DeSantis said. "The drugs that are coming in affect us, and then just the sheer number of people."

DeSantis said the new strike force that began operations last week already has arrested seven undocumented individuals who were charged with human smuggling and drug possession.

Five people were from Honduras and two were from El Salvador and all were charged with human smuggling or solicitation to commit human smuggling, DeSantis said.

The strike force also recovered four grams of fentanyl in the operation.

"One of them had an active Interpol warrant and so (police) were able to recover off these illegal aliens enough fentanyl to kill 2,000 people in the state of Florida," DeSantis said. "So we do not want this in our state."

DeSantis said he hopes the Supreme Court will impanel a grand jury to look at human smuggling with a focus on those who transport minors into the state.

"This is just wrong what they're doing, and we are going to go after it," DeSantis said. "The grand jury will also investigate the methods that the smugglers use to transport so-called unaccompanied alien children across the southern border and any criminal activity that is associated with these operations. And we know there's a lot of criminal activity associated with those. The grand jury will also investigate local governments that are aiding this smuggling scheme by intentionally violating our state law against sanctuary jurisdictions."

DeSantis was joined at the press conference by State Attorney Ginger Bowden Madden, Col. Gene Spaulding, director of the Florida Highway Patrol, Florida Department of Law Enforcement Acting Commissioner Mark Glass, and DeSantis's Public Safety Czar and former U.S. Attorney Larry Keefe.

Bowden Madden said her office would continue to work with state and local law enforcement to make cases that will stand up in court and put people who smuggle drugs into the country and the state of Florida behind bars.

"The administration currently in Washington may not be controlling our nation's borders," Bowden Madden said. "But we're going to do everything that we can to control the borders of the state of Florida."

Jim Little can be reached at jwlittle@pnj.com and 850-208-9827.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis push to combat undocumented immigration