The contract was executed without a competitive process, made possible after DeSantis declared a state emergency in January related to illegal immigration.ĭeSantis, now a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, has described illegal immigration as one of the nation’s biggest problems. (The state was responsible for providing the ammo and the weapons.)
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.Ī draft plan of instruction shows the vendor, Stronghold SOF Solutions, offered to recruit, vet and train volunteers at its facility in Defuniak Springs, where a 45-square-mile body of water, vessels for on-the-water training and a Bell 412 helicopter were available to recruits.