During a special session, when it is more difficult for the public to participate in the legislative process, lawmakers pushed the more than 80-page bill, known as the Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy, or TRUMP Act, through.
Politicians in Florida enacted a comprehensive immigration measure on Tuesday, allocating half a billion dollars in public cash to support President Donald Trump’s campaign against illegal immigrants.
The bill would mandate that all levels of government, including government contractors, work with federal immigration enforcement “to the fullest extent possible” in a state where approximately one in five citizens are immigrants.
The proposal was voted mostly along party lines by Florida’s Republican-dominated Legislature on Tuesday after more than four hours of deliberations.
Republican Governor Ron DeSantis and state legislature leaders, who have argued over whose policies would best implement Trump’s immigration crackdown, will square off as a result of the passage. According to DeSantis, the bill is “weak.”
Republican Sen. Gruters, a Trump loyalist and one of the bill’s sponsors, stated that he had conversations with the president while guiding the legislation, saying, “The whole goal of this bill is to help President Trump do his job.” “He wants the local government to be as coordinated as possible.”
After rejecting DeSantis’ immigration plans, Republican lawmakers drafted the bill in retaliation against the ineffective governor who was previously considered as Trump’s heir.
Notably, the law fell short of a veto-proof majority since six senators and one member of the House voted against it.
The governor’s ally, Republican Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, remarked, “I appreciate the attempt.” “This is not strong enough for my taste, so I cannot vote for it.”
Following their “request and receipt of technical assistance from the Trump Administration,” Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Daniel Perez revealed additional provisions ahead of Tuesday’s floor discussion.
The revisions mandated the death sentence for individuals found guilty of capital offenses and increased the punishments for all crimes committed in the state by citizens of the nation.
However, some of DeSantis’ provisions—such as prohibitions on individuals in the nation unlawfully transferring money abroad and a clause that would have established a legal presumption that those in the country illegally pose a flight risk—were rejected by the Republican sponsors.
DeSantis now has to decide whether to veto or approve a legislation that he has publicly criticized as “toothless” and “watered-down.” The bill might also become law if he chooses not to sign it.
The bill, which was approved by lawmakers on Tuesday, would transfer emergency immigration enforcement authority from the governor to the state immigration officer and establish a new state immigration enforcement office with over 140 staff members, headed by a newly appointed chief immigration officer who would be appointed by the state’s commissioner of agriculture.
According to the measure, local law enforcement agencies will get grants totaling $100 million for equipment, training, and payment for leasing detention facilities to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
An additional $375 million is allotted to support the state’s collaboration with the federal government, which includes initiatives pertaining to a program that substitutes local law enforcement for ICE agents in some tasks.
Additionally, it allocates $25 million to provide $1,000 prizes to local law enforcement officials who participate in federal cooperation.
The clause mandating that government workers “cooperate to the fullest extent possible” with federal immigration enforcement was the subject of persistent pressure from Democrats on the bill’s supporters.
Democratic Representative Christine Hunchofsky stated, “We need to define that if we truly don’t want our (school resource officers), our social workers, and our teachers defining for themselves what the fullest extent of their cooperation needs to be.”
Gruters stated that rather than focusing on “street-level” policing, the law aims to require greater cooperation from local officials in charge of jails and detention facilities. However, he admitted that might alter depending on government objectives.
Additionally, the bill would remove a ten-year-old state legislation that, as of the fiscal year 2023–2024, benefited roughly 6,500 students by allowing Florida students who are in the nation illegally to receive in-state tuition at public schools and institutions.
The tuition proposal was supported in 2014 by the state’s now-lieutenant governor, a Republican from Miami, demonstrating the significant shift in the state’s immigration politics in recent years.
“I beg you today to keep in mind our lieutenant governor’s haunting yet difficult words when she said, ‘It’s the right thing to do.'” Democratic Senator Darryl Rouson remarked to his classmates on the Senate floor. “And aside from the attitude toward immigrants, what has changed since then?”
More assertive was Democratic Representative Jose Alvarez, a Cuban-born man whose parents brought him to the United States.
“This is not what this country was meant for,” he told lawmakers during a legislative hearing, adding, “you all should be ashamed of yourselves.”
Since the agriculture sector hasn’t “been known for immigration enforcement,” DeSantis claimed that the clause designating the state’s agriculture commissioner as chief immigration officer is “almost like the fox guarding the hen house.”
Speaker Perez appeared to acknowledge the strain Republicans had been under from the governor and his supporters in his concluding remarks.
“It’s immaturity, not leadership, to threaten people to get what you want,” Perez stated. “I want you to put the work we need to do first and disregard the melodrama.”
Tennessee, which began its own special session Monday in part to address the issue, is one of the numerous states governed by both parties that are reacting to Trump’s immigration plan, along with Florida.
