Florida lawmakers passed an immigration bill during a special session this week, but not the one Gov. Ron DeSantis wanted.
Among other requirements, it would place enforcement under the direction of state Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson instead of the law enforcement agencies DeSantis oversees.
DeSantis has said that would be a conflict of interest considering “the agriculture industry’s affinity for cheap, illegal, foreign labor.”
State Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, who co-sponsored the bill, told "The Florida Roundup" on Friday that he thinks DeSantis wants too much control over the process.
“My guess is, at the end of the day, it's about credit,” Gruters said when asked what was DeSantis’ sticking point. “It's about who ultimately is in charge, in when the decision was being made, is who should be that chief immigration officer.”
“I'm not trying to throw anybody under the bus,” Gruters said. “I'm trying to do a job on behalf of the people of Florida and making sure that we are in a position to do everything humanly possible to be successful, to help the president be successful in what he's trying to do.”
The governor has vowed to veto the bill, claiming it doesn’t meet what President Donald Trump wants for his illegal immigration crackdown. However, state lawmakers said they worked with the Trump administration on the measure's language.
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“I worked with the White House. They gave us a lot of technical guidance on things they were looking for, things that we're not looking for,” Gruters said. “This is probably the strongest, most conservative immigration bill that's been passed in the country.”
U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Orlando, also joined the show. He does not support the bill, and emphasized the feuding between the governor and Legislature.
“The governor wanted all this power so he could be the immigration czar in Florida to stay relevant long enough to run for president in four years,” Frost said. “The Legislature denied him that, which I'm happy about. But we gotta look at the substance of this bill, and it's not something I support.”
The $500 million package not only would put immigration under the purview of the Department of Agriculture, it would provide money to local law enforcement to help carry out enforcement duties and eliminate in-state tuition for some students in the country without legal status.
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Gruters insisted that immigrants without legal status who have not commtted a crime would not be targeted for deportation.
“if you're not a bad guy, then you'd have nothing to worry about," Gruters said. "If you didn't rob a store in Kansas and there's a detainer request outstanding on you, or if you haven't been previously deported and [come] back in and commit another crime, don't worry about it.”
Frost said he doesn’t trust that’s the case at all, and cited White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt as saying that every immigrant without legal status is a criminal.
“I have no faith in the federal government's mass deportation operation, and because the White House sees any undocumented person as a violent criminal, I don't think we should be assisting in that whatsoever,” Frost said.
“I don't think local law enforcement should be assisting in it as well. Local law enforcement should stick to protecting the people within their jurisdiction; that includes people who are undocumented as well.”
To override a DeSantis veto, Republican lawmakers will likely need support from some Democrats.
This story was compiled off an interview conducted by Tom Hudson for “The Florida Roundup.”
