Florida State Guard unit received weapons training for migrant responses
The training sessions, authorized this summer following a surge in migrant arrivals by boat to the Keys, mostly from Cuba and Haiti, were for a specialized unit of the Florida State Guard, revived last year by the Florida Legislature. The unit that received the training has the power to make arrests and carry weapons under state law, unlike the majority of State Guard members, who so far have responded to natural disasters
A $1.2 million purchase order signed in August makes clear the DeSantis administration felt it had an “immediate and emergent need for specially trained personnel” to intercept migrants traveling by boat.
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The contract was executed without a competitive process, made possible after DeSantis declared a state emergency in January related to illegal immigration.
DeSantis, now a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, has described illegal immigration as one of the nation’s biggest problems. He has said on the presidential campaign trail that U.S. Border Patrol agents should be allowed to shoot border crossers “stone-cold dead” if they display “hostile intent.”
"When somebody’s got a backpack on and they’re breaking through the wall, you know that’s hostile intent and you have every right to take action under those circumstances,” DeSantis said in September.
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