Florida Capitol (Photo by Michael Moline/Florida Phoenix)
Republicans in the Florida Legislature have approved three separate measures designed to expedite deportations of undocumented immigrants that the governor was expected to eagerly sign once they reach his desk, perhaps later on Thursday.
The bills cleared the House and Senate mere weeks after Gov. Ron DeSantis and GOP state lawmakers were trashing each other regarding whose priorities would best assist President Donald Trump’s efforts to crack down on illegal immigration.
The three measures combined will invest control of immigration enforcement with a new State Board of Immigration Enforcement, consisting of the governor, the commissioner of agriculture, the attorney general, and the chief financial officer. This new board will distribute $250 million in grants to local law enforcement agencies to work with federal officials to enforce immigration laws.
That board will also appoint a State Immigration Enforcement Council, composed of eight county sheriffs and police chiefs.
“At the end of the day, this legislation is focused on making sure that we’re doing a great job with criminal illegals here. There’s plenty of that work to do, so I clearly am focused on that,” Senate President Ben Albritton told reporters after the Senate approved the proposals.
Lawmakers in both chambers approved two bills along party lines, with Miami-Dade Republican Senator Ileana Garcia joining Democrats in one vote against a death penalty provision.
A third measure (SB 6-C) is a memorial to the Secretary of Homeland Security urging the secretary to provide guidance, training opportunities and any other necessary directives for 287 (g) agreements, which allow state and local authorities to work with federal immigration authorities.
Overall, the measures will cost taxpayers $298 million.
Death penalty for those convicted of capital crimes
One of the bills, SB 4-C, makes it a misdemeanor for immigrants over age 18 to “knowingly” enter Florida “after entering the United States by eluding or avoiding examination or inspection by immigration officers.”
It imposes the death penalty for immigrants lacking permanent legal status who are convicted of capital crimes such as murder or sexual abuse of minors under 12.
Democrats insisted that portion of the bill is unconstitutional, as is noted in the Senate Bill analysis of SB 4-C, which says, “Although there was a time when states had ‘mandatory death sentence’ laws, the Court has found such laws unconstitutional.’”
A Miami-Dade County Democrat in the House, Dotie Joseph, presented an unsuccessful amendment to remove the death penalty provision.
“I am here to say that regardless of where you happen to be born, you do not deserve to die based on your immigration status, based on your national origin, based on the color of your skin, or based on your religious beliefs,” she said.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
Repeal of in-state tuition
The most contentious aspect of the legislation in bill SB 2-C for members of both parties was language repealing in-state tuition rates to public colleges and universities for students lacking permanent legal status, also known as “Dreamers.” That has been the law in Florida since the GOP-controlled Legislature passed and Gov. Rick Scott signed it in 2014.
South Florida Democratic Minority Leader Jason Pizzo offered an amendment that would have grandfathered in all students now paying the in-state rates, a significant discount. Two Democrats spoke in support of the amendment, saying the Legislature was breaking a promise to those students.
“For those students who are currently enrolled, the vast majority of them — they will drop out of school,” predicted Orange County Democratic Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith. “You have priced them out of higher education. You have priced them out of getting a degree.”
Senate co-sponsor takes offense with term “Dreamers”
Brevard County Republican Sen. Randy Fine, a co-sponsor of the individual measures, snapped back later that he was offended by use of the term “dreamers” to describe those students, mostly brought into the country while children.
“To call them ‘Dreamers’ implies that they have dreams and they have ambitions greater than other people,” he said. “The dreamers that I worry about are the 2,000 students that we know are not going to a Florida university of their choice because an illegal immigrant is there. What about their dreams? What about their ‘ROI’? [return on investment]. What about the investment we made in them?”
While the amendment failed, four Republicans — Alexis Calatayud, Ileana Garcia, Ana Maria Rodriguez, and Jennifer Bradley — voted along with the Democrats to retain in-state tuition levels for these students.
Lawmakers could take up changes to E-verify in regular session
In a provocative move, Pizzo proposed an amendment that would require all private employers to use the E-Verify system, a program for companies to check the legal status of their employees. Under existing law, only employers with 25 employees or more are required in Florida to use the system — which, critics noted, excludes many businesses.
Senate Rules Chair Kathleen Passidomo declared that amendment “out of order,” but Hernando County Republican Blaise Ingoglia, sponsor of the 2023 law that included the E-Verify provision, said on X that if senators have been allowed to vote on the amendment, he would have voted “YES.”
Speaking with reporters following the vote, Albritton said he would “potentially” be open to seeing that proposal resurface when the regular legislative session begins next month.
Third special session fizzled out the dispute
DeSantis was expected to sign the bill as soon as it hits his desk. The governor, Albritton, and House Speaker Daniel Perez scheduled a press conference in the Capitol to follow the final votes.
It’s a far different attitude in Tallahassee than prevailed 16 days earlier, when Republican lawmakers ignored some of the governor’s priorities in passing what was known as the TRUMP Act, a bill that DeSantis went out on the road to deride as “weaker than what we have today.”
He called GOP senators with whom he disagreed “the Senate Amnesty caucus,” calling their legislative proposal a “weak, toothless immigration bill.”
That measure would have moved control of immigration matters away from his office and to that of Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson, along with $500 million to implement the program.
In making his closing argument about the Senate bill, Pizzo listed a number of provisions that DeSantis had insisted on in his original proposal that weren’t part of this compromised package.
“There’s no prohibition on money remittance. There’s no mention of the word ‘deportation.’ There is rampant catch and release going on here. … There’s no mandatory transport of illegal aliens to federal custody. There’s none of that,” he said.
And while the Legislature and governor are now in sync on working with Trump to accomplish his campaign trail promise of mass deportations, tensions remain between GOP lawmakers and the executive branch.
Earlier Thursday, the four work groups House Speaker Daniel Perez assembled to review budget items that DeSantis vetoed last year completed their first week of work. The last time state lawmakers contemplated budget vetoes was in 2010, when then-Gov. Charlie Crist was a lame duck who had flipped from being a Republican to an independent for his unsuccessful campaign for U.S. Senate earlier that year.
The legislation comes as a new University of Marquette Law School poll of more than 1,000 Americans nationwide shows that 60% support deporting unlawful immigrants, although that number drops to 43% for those without a criminal record.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.