Gov. Ron DeSantis says it's urgent. Top lawmakers say it's premature.
The issue is illegal immigration and how Florida will respond to President-elect Donald Trump’s Day One promise of cracking down on people who are in the United States without legal status, and deporting what could be millions of people, including hundreds of thousands from Florida.
“Not everyone necessarily wants to do that in every city in Florida.” DeSantis said last Wednesday. “But we're going to say, ‘yeah, not only can you not be a sanctuary city, you have an affirmative obligation to step up and help.’”
The week began with DeSantis calling for a special legislative session later this month to tackle a number of issues, including immigration. Legislative leaders quickly responded with a letter essentially saying they will show up, but pointing out the governor didn’t have any specific legislation for them to consider.
Trump and the governor reportedly played golf on Tuesday and Trump thanked DeSantis for calling lawmakers back.
Requiring local police to enforce immigration laws
On Wednesday, the governor released a list of proposals.
”We have a sense of urgency in the state of Florida. We have to come in right on the heels of the new president, getting sworn into office, and we need to enact strong policies that are going to help this administration accomplish the mission that the American people spoke loudly and clearly about in November.”
RELATED: DeSantis issues a list of immigration-related proposals for special session
One of DeSantis' proposals would require local police to participate in the federal government’s immigration efforts.
He proposed a state law making it a crime to enter the U.S. illegally, and to require ID verification for immigrants who want to send back to their home countries.
Speaking Friday on The Florida Roundup, Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey said the law would ensure that officials in more “woke areas” don't turn a blind eye to criminal activity.
“So I think what the governor is looking to do is to make sure that every law enforcement agency and every county jail is working in the same direction and working in concert with President Trump's orders that will come down.”
Most Florida sheriffs already work with federal officials
DeSantis wants to “mandate maximum participation in the 287(g) deportation program.” That’s the ICE program that delegates certain federal immigration authority to local police.
The majority of sheriffs in Florida have memorandums of understanding already in place with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.
A 2019 MOU between Brevard County Sheriff's Office and ICE allows county officers to do two things:
- Arrest someone on immigration charges if they are in a county jail and will be released.
- Transfer a prisoner from the custody of the sheriff’s office to federal custody.
“We're looking at the opportunity to expand on the teeth that we have,” Ivey said. “We're looking at the opportunity to expand our partnership.”
Repealing in-state tuition for students who are without legal status
Another idea DeSantis endorsed is repealing a state law allowing students who are without legal status to pay in-state tuition at public universities.
Eleven years ago, Florida lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a law that offered “students who are undocumented for federal immigration purposes” in-state tuition as long as they went to and graduated from a Florida high school.
The sponsor of that measure, Jeanette Nuñez, is now the lieutenant governor. Among those voting for that bill was Manny Diaz. Today he is Florida's Commissioner of Education, which includes oversight of the state’s colleges and universities.
Related: Florida bill would ban students in the US without legal permission from some public universities
Republican State Senator Randy Fine wants to go further. He has proposed stopping some of these students from attending some state universities.
“Why should an illegal immigrant get a spot at the University of Florida that a Floridian, or an American could be taking? It just doesn’t seem right. So, this will make sure we are prioritizing those scarce resources to actual Floridians, actual Americans, actual people who follow our laws.”
The bill would ban public colleges and universities with an acceptance rate of less than 85% from accepting students without legal status.
That would affect all 12 of Florida’s state universities, according to acceptance data from the U.S. Department of Education, but not state colleges.
This story was compiled off an interview conducted by Tom Hudson for “The Florida Roundup.”
