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DeSantis is likely to veto the immigration bill. Does the Senate have the votes to override it?

Alexandra Glorioso, Miami Herald on

Published in News & Features

Florida’s Republican-dominated Legislature on Tuesday passed a sweeping immigration-enforcement bill, cutting Gov. Ron DeSantis out of the negotiation that ultimately stripped him of his ability to oversee a vastly expanded immigration-enforcement apparatus — and setting up an expected veto from the governor.

Now, the question is whether the Legislature can obtain the necessary two-thirds majority to override the potential veto of the bill dubbed the TRUMP Act, which stands for Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy.

Normally, this wouldn’t be a challenge. Republicans control a supermajority in both chambers. But in the Senate, chamber President Ben Albritton faces uncertain terrain — six Republicans voted against the bill Tuesday, three of whom he is unlikely to convince to come back into the fold as they are staunch supporters of the governor.

Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, who filed eight immigration bills ahead of a special session DeSantis called that the House and Senate leaders dismissed only to call their own, said the bill did not go far enough and was unconstitutional in transferring immigration enforcement to one of the governor’s top political rivals.

The bill would establish Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson as the state immigration czar, giving him power to coordinate the state’s program with the Trump administration. Simpson, who is likely running to succeed DeSantis as governor in 2026, has been sparring with the governor on social media ever since the Legislature offered the proposal. They historically have a testy relationship too.

“Why not just keep it with the governor?” Ingoglia asked about the bill on the Senate floor. “Because it appears that some of the powers you are delegating to the Commissioner of Agriculture in this bill are powers that the governor regularly utilizes.”

Both chambers will need a two-thirds majority to override a potential veto by the governor. After passing the bill with a vote of 21-16, the Senate sent it over to the lower chamber. The House picked it up and passed it 82-30, well within the two-thirds majority needed to override a potential veto.

The Legislature has yet to send the bill to the governor.

Assuming DeSantis does veto the bill – which the governor continued to criticize on Tuesday as “weak” – Albritton’s math problem will be difficult to overcome. If he can’t get the numbers to override the governor, DeSantis will have won a rare conflict between him and his Republican colleagues in the Legislature who have regularly championed his agenda since he assumed office in 2019. Neither Albritton nor House Speaker Daniel Perez gave a press conference after the special session wrapped late Tuesday evening.

Perez is likely to secure the necessary two-thirds vote where he controls an 87-33 supermajority after two Democrats flipped following a trouncing in the November election. But Albritton needs 26 of the senators present this week to vote with him and currently only has 21 — he must flip five votes.

Even if Albritton can convince the three Republicans who did not vote with him Tuesday and who are not already committed to DeSantis to change their minds, at least two of the five votes will have to come from Democrats.

Albritton’s math problem only became more difficult when the Senate and House released a rewrite on the bill 20 minutes before it was taken up on the floor Tuesday after the floor hearing was delayed for hours.

 

The rewrite was based on input from the Trump administration and, in part, created a mandatory death penalty for an undocumented immigrant who commits a capital crime such as raping a minor.

Senate Minority Leader Jason Pizzo said Tuesday he was down on the bill, in part, over that provision, as were some of his Democratic colleagues. But he said it wasn’t the only poison pill.

There was also a provision that eliminates in-state tuition for children of undocumented immigrants commonly referred to as “Dreamers.” Democrats failed to amend the bill with a compromise that would have allowed those already enrolled in school to receive the discount for an additional four years.

Two Republican senators from Miami voted for the Democratic amendment that would have given these students currently in college four additional years of in-state tuition.

One of those senators, Alexis Calatayud, voted against the bill in general.

“Nearly every provision of the Trump Act can be supported by Floridians of all political stripes and regions across the state,” said Calatayud before voting against the bill. “Yet one — the near-term termination of the in-state tuition for current college students at Miami Dade College, at FIU, at higher-education institutions across the state — remains challenging.”

She added: “It is conflicting not only for my district and for many in my community, but for my personal conviction that affordable, accessible education gives every child regardless of their lot in life a shot at the American dream and the opportunity to realize their highest potential.”

DeSantis has tried to overturn the 2014 law giving these undocumented students in-state tuition that was once championed by his Hispanic lieutenant governor and his Republican predecessor Sen. Rick Scott.

After the Senate passed the bill, DeSantis praised five of the six senators on X who “bucked the Senate amnesty caucus, stood strong for the people of Florida and opposed the weak, toothless immigration bill.” (One of those senators he listed voted for the amendment extending in-state tuition for undocumented students).

He left Calatayud’s name off the list.

Herald/Times staff writer Ana Ceballos contributed to this report.


©2025 Miami Herald. Visit at miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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