DeSantis considers sending state guard to Texas and a public sleeping bill

Gov. Ron DeSantis prepares to send the State and National Guard to Texas to help with enforcing the southern border while a set of bills advance in Tallahassee that aim to ban sleeping in public.

DeSantis prepares to send State and National Guard to Texas

Florida is going all in on the southern border. State Republicans say the border crisis is a danger to the nation.

But for Democrats, this is another political stunt by a governor who is still dreaming of the White House.

Florida state guard troops are planning a surge on the southern border.

Gov. Ron DeSantis Wednesday called on the Florida National Guard plus the Florida State Guard to, “Stop the invasion.”

“Let’s all band together as states. Let’s say that our borders matter. Let’s say that we’re going to support Texas in making sure we can stop what is happening to our country,” DeSantis said.

The governor is offering up to 1,000 national guardsmen to support Operation Lone Star. He is mobilizing the Florida State Guard too, making this their first deployment in state history.

DeSantis says the forces will build barriers, throw down wire and establish barricades along the southern border.

“The federal government is no longer protecting the states. Not the state of Texas, but all the states. The states have a right to protect their citizens,” State Sen. Blaise Ingoglia said.

Democrats are urging him to reconsider. Better yet, they’d like him to focus on more pressing issues, like affordability.

“We should let the feds do their job and DeSantis should focus on doing his. And let me tell you something. Leadership requires courage. It requires conviction. It requires making tough choices, but it also requires doing your damn job. And right now, DeSantis is not doing his,” House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell said.

DeSantis resurrected the state guard back in 2021. They’re a state paramilitary force, and they operate off state dollars and answer only to the governor.

The Florida State Defense Force, the progenitor of the Florida State Guard, was created in 1941 to supplement the state’s National Guard, which was emptied as members of the guard were called into service during World War II.

The force was deactivated and disbanded in 1947 shortly after members of the Florida National Guard returned from service.

The state of Texas has a state guard that was used by Gov. Greg Abbott to monitor federal military exercises in his state in 2015. There are currently 22 states that have an active state guard force. 

Bills could ban sleeping in public

Florida lawmakers advanced a pair of bills this week that would prevent people from being able to sleep or camp on public property without permits.

Senate Bill 1530 and House Bill 1365 are now in the Judiciary Committee.

The bills would allow, but not require, counties and municipalities to create designated public areas for the homeless to sleep. However, these areas must fit certain criteria, including access to running water, access to behavioral health services and having security on site.

Several local governments across the state have created their own laws on homelessness and public camping. In Miami Beach, for example, refusal to leave after camping in a public space can result in a fine of up to $500 or jail time up to 60 days.

“Each individual person’s homelessness is just as individual as their personality, just as individual as their fingerprint,” Rick Morris said. He received help from Matthew’s Hope.

For Morris, his story of homelessness began due to his health. He said he lost sight in one eye and ultimately lost his job.

Now he puts in work like painting at Matthew’s Hope. In return, the organization pays for his condo, and also got him new glasses.

“There’s no other place I’ve seen, throughout the whole central part of this state that even compares to this,” he said.

Matthew’s Hope is geared towards long-term solutions, giving people the resources to finally get off the street for the long haul.

Scott Billue with the organization says a new bill proposal could have negative impacts on the already-hurting homeless population.

Senate Bill 1530 would force counties & cities to ban people from sleeping or camping on public property without a permit.

“We’re criminalizing homelessness,” Billue said.

He said he grew up homeless living in hotels. He saw how homelessness was treated with bandaids instead of working to get people independent.

“We have three shelters in Orange County. And they’re all within walking distance of one another, which makes no sense at all, because your highest concentration of homeless people are in West Orange County and East Orange County and there’s nothing there,” he said.

One area of concern for him is Apopka, where there is no homeless shelter and nowhere nearby to go if they are asked to leave.

The sponsor of the house’s version of the bill says it’s time to come up with solutions, and sleeping on the street can’t be one of them.

“The status quo is not okay. And it’s not okay to seek public spaces to become de facto homeless camps,” State Rep. Sam Garrison said.

Disney files appeal to DeSantis suit ruling

Disney has filed an appeal with the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to overturn Wednesday’s ruling from a federal judge, dismissing the company’s lawsuit against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his allies: the Florida Secretary of the Department of Commerce and members of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board.

Disney had sued in April 2023, claiming the state retaliated against it for publicly opposing the Parental Rights in Education law — called “Don’t Say Gay” by opponents.

The governor responded at the time by supporting the Florida Legislature to strip Disney of its longtime self-governing power under the Reedy Creek Improvement District.

For more than 50 years, Disney had significant control over its land in Central Florida, but the Legislature dissolved Reedy Creek and replaced it with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight Board in February 2023.

Disney claimed the move violated the company’s First Amendment rights because the governor was punishing it for disagreeing with him.

But a U.S. District Court judge for the Northern District of Florida in Tallahassee has now thrown that lawsuit out.

The judge dismissed the case against DeSantis and the commerce secretary, saying Disney didn’t have standing to sue them. He also dismissed the case against the CFTOB, saying Disney failed to state a claim.

“At the end of the day, under the law of this Circuit, ‘courts shouldn’t look to a law’s legislative history to find an illegitimate motivation for an otherwise constitutional statute’ …  Because that is what Disney seeks here, its claim fails as a matter of law,” the ruling said.

Disney quickly responded yesterday, vowing to continue fighting the dissolution of Reedy Creek in the courts.