The Florida legislature is clashing with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) over immigration enforcement, aligning themselves with President Donald Trump’s orders.
The fracture began after DeSantis — prior to Trump assuming office — called for a special session, charging his state with leading on Trump’s deportation program.
“The American people spoke very clearly of all the issues out there, and there were a lot of very important issues. This issue of the border and illegal immigration was one of the top issues in the 2024 election, and has been one of the top issues that we’ve had in this country for many, many years,” he said, explaining that this mandate would “require new legislation in Florida to ensure that the duties of both state and local officials are very clear, and that those duties require them to be assisting the federal government in this regard.”
“Now the state, we’re going to do it, because I’m going to order that the state does it,” he said.
But on Monday, the Florida legislature — in the House and Senate — quickly ended the special session ordered by DeSantis and began their own.
“The President’s plan to highlight the reality that immigration policy and enforcement is a federal responsibility which deserves a renewed focus and energy so the value of American citizenship is not lost or diminished,” Florida Senate President Ben Albritton said.
“President Trump clearly has a situation under control and is leading from the Oval Office. I want to be careful that we don’t do anything to undermine President Trump’s very good plan. I won’t stand for that,” he continued, noting that he did not agree with everything DeSantis proposed in the special session.
“President Trump received resounding support in both the primary and general elections of 2024 and thus has a mandate from voters to tackle this glaring problem on his terms,” he continued, outlining some of the things he did not agree with.
“I choose to stand with President Trump and with local law enforcement. I’m not going to assume that I know better than the President of the United States and the boots on the ground, the ones who put their lives at risk every day for all Floridians,” he continued, as a reoccurring theme seems to be that they disagree with the emphasis DeSantis places on local law enforcement.
Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez said, in part:
Another thing I dislike about Special Session is that it excludes too many Members from the conversation. The typical practice is to refer a bill to one committee and then bring it to the Floor. We will not be following that tradition. Instead, HB 1B will be heard in three committees this afternoon. However, rather than sending it to standing committees, where most of you would never see the bill and a few of you might see it more than once depending on your committee assignments, I will be creating three Select Committees on Illegal Immigration and will assign as many members to each committee as we can reasonably accommodate in our largest committee room, Webster Hall in 212 Knott.
He also explained that their plan — rather than DeSantis’s — would elevate Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson as the “chief immigration officer” of the state, and while the governor has floated that position as well, the version offered by lawmakers would take it out of the governor’s purview.
“We need a singular point of focus in the state government for coordinating immigration,” Perez explained. “We need an agency with broader reach in the state, and experience working with the federal government and law enforcement.”
NBC put it this way:
If the Republican leaders’ bill passes, as expected, DeSantis will either have to sign a bill that effectively knee-caps his ability to coordinate immigration enforcement in the state, or veto a proposal that includes hard-line immigration reforms, many of which he supports.
DeSantis responded to the chain of events Monday afternoon, noting that he was “glad the Legislature’s bill includes many of my proposals, including the long-overdue need to eliminate tuition waivers for illegal immigrant students.”
However, DeSantis contended that their bill is “substantially weaker than the proposals I outlined and that are necessary to ensure that Florida leads on fulfilling the Trump Administration’s mandate to enforce immigration law and deport illegal aliens.”
One of the main stumbling blocks for DeSantis seems to be the failure to put “enforceable duty on state & local law enforcement to fully cooperate on illegal immigration enforcement.”
“This means that Florida localities will provide no meaningful assistance to federal efforts,” he contended, continuing:
It unconstitutionally removes authority to enforce the law from the governor to a lower-level cabinet agency, the department of agriculture, that does not oversee state law enforcement and whose stakeholders often oppose enforcement measures.
By giving enforcement power to the agricultural arm of state government, it ensures that enforcement never actually occurs. In short, it puts the fox in charge of the hen house.
This is a unique moment in American history. We are either going to reclaim our sovereignty, uphold the law, and protect our citizens or allow this moment to slip away.
Ultimately, DeSantis called for legislatures to move forward with “strong immigration legislation that ensures Florida is doing everything it can to assist this important federal mission,” describing the bill offered by the legislature as a “bait-and-switch tactic trying to create the illusion of an illegal immigration crack down, when it does anything but.”
“It is an insult to name such a weak bill after President Trump, who has been so strong on this issue,” he added, posturing himself in alignment with the president on the issue.
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