TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Governor Ron DeSantis held a news conference Thursday afternoon in Tallahassee to sign new legislation aimed at strengthening illegal immigration enforcement.
Press play above to re-watch the news conference
After a special session late last month spiraled into a clash between Republican legislative leaders and Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida lawmakers met in another special session this week to pass a package of bills targeting illegal immigration — with DeSantis’ support.
“The voters who have been talking to me about this for many, many years, who wanted to see very swift action, just know that what the Legislature did today answers the call. This is what you asked for. This is what you expected from us. And this really is kind of just the ticket to the dance. We’re going to be implementing it. There’s going to be a lot of things that happen, but I can tell you, the state of Florida will be safer and secure as a result of this legislation,” DeSantis said.
What’s in the new legislation
The new legislation includes many of their previous proposals, with the overall goal of boosting state and local participation in the federal government’s work to arrest, detain and deport people in the country without legal authorization.
A notable change in the compromise legislation includes doing away with the provision that would have created a new role of chief immigration officer to be held by the state’s agriculture commissioner — an idea DeSantis vehemently opposed. Instead, the measure would create a new state board of immigration enforcement, made up of the governor, the ag commissioner and the other two members of Florida’s Cabinet.
The new package also includes proposals that DeSantis had pushed lawmakers to include, such as making it a state crime to enter Florida without legal authorization. Another DeSantis-backed measure would require pretrial detention for people in the country without legal authorization who are charged with forcible felonies.
The board would coordinate immigration enforcement activities with federal officials and dole out $250 million in grants to local law enforcement agencies to assist federal enforcement efforts. The measure also would do away with in-state tuition for undocumented immigrant students.
A separate law would impose the death penalty on undocumented immigrants who commit murders or rape children.
One of DeSantis’ previously proposed items that was not included in the new legislation addressed international remittances, or transfers from a well-meaning individual or family member to another person or household in another country.
RELATED | Here’s what to know about Florida’s special session on immigration
Florida House of Representatives Speaker Danny Perez and Florida Senate President Ben Albritton joined the governor during Thursday’s news conference.
“Once this is implemented, Florida families, Florida children, Florida grandchildren, fathers, mothers are going to be safer,” Albritton said.
But State Representative Anna Eskamani said the legislation won’t help most Floridians and is just an attempt to appease President Trump.
“They are going to sign this bill and take a victory parade while our immigrant communities are going to continue to be targeted and live in fear,” Eskamani said.
UNF Political Science Professor Michael Binder said the success of this legislation is critical for Desantis’ legacy in the state.
“I think it’s more important for DeSantis politically, that this works well, whatever that means. And listen, yes, there are a lot of folks on temporary protective statuses here in Florida, and yes, there are people that don’t have documentation that live here in Florida. But it’s also important to nestle that in reality, right? We’re not south Texas, we’re not southern Arizona, we’re not California. The volume of people in the state without documentation is much less, relatively speaking, compared to many, many other parts of the country. Our borders are water, and yes, people show up in boats. They have been forever. But it’s not anything like the Texas or Arizona or California borders,” Binder said.
Binder said Florida runs the risk of the bill backfiring politically because migrant labor has been a big contributor to construction, home building and agriculture. He warned of potential economic issues if finding migrant workers becomes more difficult leading to increased costs for Floridians on everyday goods and inflation.