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Ron DeSantis: “We enacted Operation Vigilant Sentry to protect Florida's…”

Featuring: Ron DeSantis, Republican | Governor of Florida

Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths

Published May 13, 2026 | Video Starts at 01:11

And we had a good impact, but without the federal government's help, it was obviously inadequate. And so we needed to do more and more. We enacted Operation Vigilant Sentry to protect Florida's coastlines. We had 250 officers and soldiers from Florida Dem, Florida State Guard and other agencies to help the Coast Guard patrol the southern coast of Florida. (01:11–01:17)

CLAIM

Asserts that Florida enacted Operation Vigilant Sentry to protect its coastlines.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Ron DeSantis

“That's enough fentanyl to kill almost half of the US population.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 02:52-02:57
“Fentanyl caused deaths specifically declined by 46%.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 05:14-05:20
“We were able to get 22,000 [illegal aliens] staged and deported who otherwise would have been released back into Florida communities.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 26:14-26:25
“Joe Biden opened the border back in 2021.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 00:50-00:53
“Since we did Operation Vigilance Sentry, we've had 19,000 illegal aliens interdicted on the seas.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 01:44-01:53
“More than 18,000 of them were repatriated to their home countries.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 01:53-01:58
“We've also been able to remove almost 500 vessels during that program.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 01:58-02:05
“In 2023, we established the State Assistance for Fentanyl Eradication, the SAFE Grant Program.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 02:21-02:28
“The SAFE program has done, they've had 3,000 arrests, 600 pounds of fentanyl and 65,000 fentanyl pills.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 02:43-02:53
“Florida Department of Law Enforcement has just released the 2025 interim drugs identified in Deceased Persons report.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 04:43-04:52
“Statewide drug related Deaths decreased by 19% in the most recent reporting period.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 05:01-05:09
“Opioid caused Deaths dropped by 42%.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 05:09-05:14
“Deaths involving cocaine decreased by 24%.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 05:37-05:42
“Meth related deaths fell by more than 31%.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 05:41-05:45
“I recommended 13.5 million in additional pay increases for our sworn state LEOs and this year's budget.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 06:46-06:54
“Also more than 11 million in funding for career development plan for highway patrol troopers.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 06:53-07:00
“We got to remain competitive in [law enforcement support].”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 06:59-07:08
“We've had a lot of support from the legislature over the years for those initiatives.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 07:10-07:16
“It's a time to not just say you support law enforcement, but step up and show in your actions that you do.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 07:16-07:24
“To be able to recruit and retain good people, it does require resources.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 07:28-07:34
“We're making not just some progress, but really dramatic progress against fentanyl.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 07:37-07:45
“We launched a couple years ago the CORE initiative Coordinated Opioid Response, or Opioid Recovery Program.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 21:47-21:57
“The relapses went down dramatically [due to the CORE initiative].”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 22:33-22:38
“We do treat [drug dealers] as if they are homicides and people go to prison for the rest of their lives sometimes.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 23:14-23:21
“We've put money behind [Narcan distribution].”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 25:15-25:17
“When we opened [Alligator Alcatraz] in the summer of 2025, it was always intended to be temporary.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 27:35-27:42
“The federal government didn't have the resources to hold these people themselves.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 27:43-27:47
“We have all the 287 agreements. We're working very closely with them.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 28:14-28:20
“The feds determine who goes there, then the state handles the processing and the staging, and then the feds take them and send them back to…”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 28:50-29:00
“We've saved taxpayers from medical care and schooling and all these different things that you end up footing the bill for when you have an…”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 30:59-31:10
“FWC announced this morning they're working to put a temporary order in place to stop the importation of sloths into Florida.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 31:49-31:58
“We're not doing at the state level money for stadium and we've not done that since I've been governor.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 36:10-36:18
“The only [baseball stadium] that hasn't been a public private partnership is Oracle in San Francisco.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 37:57-38:02
“The Rays, I think had the second best record in Baseball, or certainly one of the top two or three records in baseball.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 39:54-40:01
“This market in Tampa has exploded.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 40:30-40:33
“We've done infrastructure at the soccer stadium in Miami that just opened.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 41:00-41:05
“We did some stuff for F1 to help with the ingress egress there.”
Governor DeSantis Highlights Florida’s Progress in Reducing Opioid Overdose Deaths | Uploaded May 13, 2026 | 41:10-41:15