MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
OK, to Florida now, where Republican Governor Ron DeSantis received a surprising snub today from leaders within his own party. At issue - immigration. DeSantis called a legislative session to pass proposals he says would help President Trump conduct mass deportations. But Republican lawmakers quickly ended his session and announced one of their own with a different take on immigration enforcement, and they had some criticism for the governor along the way. NPR's Greg Allen is with us from Miami. Hey, Greg.
GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: Hi, Mary Louise.
KELLY: Sounds like there was a lot going on in the Florida Legislature today. Catch us up.
ALLEN: Right. Well, you know, as Governor DeSantis has the authority to call the Legislature into a special session, and he's done that quite often before. This time, though, when he did, Republican leaders in the Legislature surprised many by pushing back against the call, saying a special session is premature. Today, House Speaker Daniel Perez had some pointed words for DeSantis.
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DANIEL PEREZ: I believe special sessions should be used sparingly. They should not be stunts designed to generate headlines.
ALLEN: So the Legislature met. Perez gaveled in and then gaveled out DeSantis' special session. The same thing happened in the Senate. And then after that, in both chambers, Republican leaders convened another special session to consider their own proposals for addressing illegal immigration. Advocates I've spoken to say this is worrying immigrant communities throughout Florida who are already on edge about Trump's proposal for mass deportation.
KELLY: OK, so a lot of competing proposals here. Walk us through what DeSantis actually wants to do and what Republican lawmakers say they want to do instead.
ALLEN: Right. Well, DeSantis wants to require counties and cities to participate in the federal deportation program, and that similar proposal is going around a lot of Republican-led states. He wants to be able to suspend any officials who don't do so, including those who are elected. But House Speaker Perez said that those ideas, in his words, are just too bureaucratic.
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PEREZ: We do not need to duplicate the functions of U.S. Immigration and Customs and create a mini-me version of ICE. In addition, his proposals would hijack local law enforcement operations.
ALLEN: DeSantis also wants a law that would require people to show ID and their immigration status before sending remittances back to their home countries. Republican leaders in the Legislature - of course, they control the Legislature - they rejected that idea also, saying that that would create new mandates for businesses and set up what they called a Big Brother database of people who want to send money abroad.
The Legislature's bill is significantly less harsh on immigrants, local communities and business interests. And they would make Florida's agriculture commissioner the state's chief immigration officer. You know, agriculture, of course, depends on migrant labor here and across the nation.
Yeah. And DeSantis isn't happy with this bill. He says he likes a few elements, such as the one that removes in-state tuition waivers for students without legal status. But he said putting the agriculture commissioner in charge of enforcing immigration, quote, "puts the fox in charge of the henhouse."
KELLY: So just trying to think through what all this means, DeSantis has been clear. The governor is on board. He wants to help Trump implement his immigration agenda in Florida. Greg, do today's developments suggest fellow Republicans and the state Legislature are not on board?
ALLEN: Republican leaders say that problem is not with - is with DeSantis, not with Trump. Senate President Ben Albritton says he supports Trump's efforts to control the border and to deport immigrants with criminal records.
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BEN ALBRITTON: The best way to do that is to follow the leadership of President Trump. President Trump asked for partnership at the state level that produces results. That's the kind of partnership I support.
ALLEN: But, you know, Mary Louise, this is not just about immigration. DeSantis has gotten pretty much everything he's wanted from the Republican majority in the Legislature over the past six years. And this was all while DeSantis was, of course, getting ready to run for the Republican presidential nomination, and he was a political force in his own right.
But now he's on his last term. He's out of office in two years, you know, with an uncertain future. Republicans in the Legislature today accused him of trying to bully them, and they used this special session today for some payback. They overrode a budget veto he issued last year, and they restored some $50 million to their budget.
KELLY: NPR's Greg Allen in Miami. Thank you, Greg.
ALLEN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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