Florida lawmakers beef up immigration plan with Trump administration help

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — After handing Gov. Ron DeSantis two stunning and unprecedented defeats, and then facing a storm of criticism on social media, Florida lawmakers Tuesday unveiled changes to a $500 million immigration enforcement bill intended to supersede the governor’s plan.

Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker and Danny Perez said they “requested and received technical assistance” from the White House on the legislation they dubbed the “Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy Act” or TRUMP Act.

“We made specific improvements to the TRUMP Act to further align state law with the renewed and expanded enforcement of federal immigration law under President Trump,” they said. The earlier version of the bill had passed Senate and House committees Monday.

A final vote on the legislative package may come later Tuesday.

DeSantis blasted the Legislature on X and his go-to conservative talk shows Monday and Tuesday for rejecting his own slate of immigration bills, overriding his veto of $57 million in funding — mostly for legislative expenses — and canceling his special session — only to reconvene in the legislature’s own special session to entertain its own bill.

DeSantis insisted that the measures lawmakers proposed — even with the new changes — were “substantially weaker” than his plans and failed to “put an enforceable duty on state and local law enforcement to fully cooperate on illegal immigration enforcement.”

The governor also argued that the bills he supported were more in line with President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement plans, and complained that the Legislature was trying to usurp his constitutional authority with a key provision of its bill: naming Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson as chief immigration enforcement officer.

“Legislative leaders wrote a weak immigration bill that vests enforcement in the Commissioner of Agriculture, which creates a conflict of interest given the agriculture industry’s affinity for cheap, illegal foreign labor,” DeSantis posted on X.

“It is also the case that the current commissioner, Wilton Simpson, has voted to give drivers licenses and in-state tuition to illegals. He even refused to oppose allowing illegals to practice law in Florida,” DeSantis continued.

Simpson replied that he has “worked since day one to support President Trump and his immigration policies. Florida’s conservative legislature will decide who is best to support President Trump and his team. I’m not the one who opposed and ran against President Trump.”

The latest legislative changes include a mandatory death penalty for illegal immigrants convicted of murder or the rape of a child, enhanced criminal penalties for undocumented immigrants who have been deported and then return to Florida to commit a crime, and enhanced sentencing for unauthorized immigrant gang members. The bill now includes expanding the role of the chief immigration officer, and creating a bonus program for trained law enforcement officers who assist with federal immigration task forces.

The legislature also expanded the scope of its special session to include financial penalties for government officials who hinder deportation efforts, enhanced criminal penalties for offenses committed by unauthorized aliens, and programs and policies to allow “law enforcement agencies to supplement, not replace, the Federal Government in its enforcement of federal immigration law.”

But the bill rejects many of the proposals DeSantis outlined in his legislation, including expanding the transport of unauthorized immigrants to foreign countries, refusing bail for undocumented aliens when they are arrested, and prohibiting undocumented immigrants from sending money to their friends and relatives in their home country.

In a joint statement, Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Danny Perez vigorously defended Florida’s law enforcement community.

]Law enforcement is our partner, not our enemy. It’s no wonder the Governor’s proposal included criminal penalties for law enforcement. His statement clearly suggests he doesn’t trust the boots on the ground, but we do.”

DeSantis had first called for a special session in early January, before Trump issued his executive order calling for a crackdown on immigration. Both chambers pushed back on the governor’s call at the time, saying it was “premature” and “irresponsible.”

Monday, they did as they were required and assembled in Tallahassee for the governor’s special session, but ended it after 15 minutes. They immediately convened their own special session and introduced the bill drafted by leadership staff and submitted by Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota.

The bill provides $500 million to support local law enforcement’s participation in Trump’s anti-immigration efforts, repeals a waiver allowing undocumented students to pay in-state rather than out-of-state tuition, and sublets local jails and state prisons to house detainees.

Democrats objected to killing the out-of-state tuition waiver and unsuccessfully tried to amend the bill to delete the language repealing the waiver.

---------