Rick Scott addresses Ron DeSantis border cop deployment as fentanyl floods Florida streets

Governors past and present see a positive poll.

Florida’s most recent former Governor stopped short during media hits Wednesday and Thursday of endorsing Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ decision to send law enforcement to the southern border.

However, he does back action to curb the rampant fentanyl problem in Florida.

U.S. Sen. Rick Scott was asked about the matter on Newsmax’s “Spicer and Co.” He stressed the importance of blocking fentanyl from Florida streets but did not say he would have made the decision as Governor to send law enforcement to Texas and Arizona to address the porous southern border.

We understand that the Senator first heard about the Governor’s proposal during the television interview, after a busy day on the Senate floor, explaining the framing of the answer. (However, during a second media appearance on Panama City’s News Talk 101 on Thursday morning, he also stopped short of a tangible endorsement.)

“Well, what I think my role of in the state would be (is) to figure out ‘how is it impacting us,'” Scott said. “I talk to sheriffs around the state. I actually talked to two sheriffs today in Florida and what they’re saying is there’s a significant amount of fentanyl that’s coming across the border and getting into Florida right now. We’re losing people.”

“What I would be doing is focusing on how we can help law enforcement in Florida stop this fentanyl. Because that’s the biggest thing that’s happening right now. We’ll see if there’s other problems that are going to come up.”

“We know a lot of people coming across the border. We don’t know what their purpose is. They’re clearly not being apprehended on top of all the people being apprehended and released. So the biggest problem I see in Florida is on the fentanyl side,” Scott added. “I’d be focused on the fentanyl problem in our state, OK?”

DeSantis announced the decision flanked by peace officers in Escambia County, where he held a press conference rife with denunciations of what he perceived as President Joe Biden‘s failure to enforce border security. Florida is slated to be the first state to offer this kind of aid.

The Florida Highway Patrol, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission and several sheriffs’ offices have already agreed to send officials.

Florida law enforcement officials will face challenges, whenever they are finally deployed.

“It’s (unlike) anything anyone’s ever seen down there. You have caravans that are making their way and pouring across the border. You absolutely have the cartels that are taking full advantage of what is going on down near our southern border,” DeSantis said.

Sheriffs spoke in favor of the deployment, including Brevard County’s Wayne Ivey.

“This administration has opened the floodgates to our country,” he said. “They’ve allowed illegals to come into our country and with them, they are bringing victims of human trafficking, they are bringing fentanyl by the truckloads, they are taking everything that our ICE and customs partners can take, they’re throwing it at them, and our law enforcement partners out there are overburdened.”

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Florida Politics’ Capitol correspondent Renzo Downey contributed to this post.