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DeSantis threatens to veto Florida Legislature's sweeping immigration bill

Jeffrey Schweers, Orlando Sentinel on

Published in News & Features

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The showdown between Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature over immigration enforcement continued today with the governor threatening to veto the Legislature’s $500 million bill drafted with input from President Donald Trump’s team.

“The veto pen is ready,” DeSantis posted on X moments before he held a roundtable discussion in Titusville on the need for a stronger immigration plan than the one passed by the Legislature Tuesday night.

Legislative leaders control when they send the bill to the governor’s desk, and there is no deadline for when they have to do that. Once he receives it, however, DeSantis will have 14 days to veto it or sign it into law.

“The bill that narrowly passed the Florida legislature last night fails to honor our promises to voters, fails to meet the moment, and would actually weaken state immigration enforcement,” DeSantis said. “The removal of illegal aliens residing in our state requires strong legislation that will guarantee state and local deportation assistance, end catch and release, eliminate magnets such as remittances, and adopt supporting policies that will protect Floridians from the scourge of illegal immigration.”

Lawmakers handed DeSantis two stunning and unprecedented defeats this week by rejecting the immigration bills he backed and said would support Trump’s deportation plans and overriding his veto of a $57 million legislative budget appropriation.

The Legislature’s bill increases penalties for unauthorized aliens who use false ID to vote, provides funding for local law enforcement to provide training and help federal immigration officials and allows the leasing of jails and state prisons to hold detainees, among other things.

“I know some of my colleagues said this bill doesn’t go far enough, and it isn’t a silver bullet,” said bill sponsor Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, who talked to Trump about the bill Monday night. “Is it perfect? It’s not. But it reflects the executive orders the president has issued. We made it the strongest bill we could for the state.”

The House passed the bill out 82-30 — meaning it has more than the required 2/3 votes to override a veto. But the Senate doesn’t have the votes to override a veto since it passed the bill 21-16 with six Republicans joining 10 Democrats in opposition.

 

Among those voting down the bill was Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, who sponsored the DeSantis-backed legislation in the Senate that the Legislature refused to take up.

“When I look at this legislation, I think there are some big glaring holes in it,” Ingoglia said of the Legislature’s bill. “There are some good ideas in it, the death penalty provision for example. And removing in-state tuition is something I had tried to get into bills for years and never was able to do.”

Democrats voted against the bill mainly because it eliminated a tuition waiver that allows undocumented students to attend state colleges and universities at in-state tuition rates.

That was also the reason Miami Republican Sen. Alexis Calatayud voted against the bill.

The bill includes 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 names the Commissioner of Agriculture as the state’s chief immigration enforcement officer, and creates a bonus program for trained law enforcement officers who assist with federal immigration task forces.

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©2025 Orlando Sentinel. Visit at orlandosentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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