Gov. Ron DeSantis has called lawmakers to a special session of the Florida Legislature Monday to take up a series of proposals on immigration. But it's not clear what measures, if any, will be considered as key Republican lawmakers have called the session "premature."
Florida is one of several states where Republican leaders say they support President Trump's pledge for the mass deportation of immigrants who don't have legal status in the U.S. DeSantis announced the special session earlier this month, a week before Trump's inauguration. He said he'd spoken to Trump about his plans for curbing illegal immigration and mass deportations and that the state should take a leading role.
"State and local officials in Florida must help the Trump administration enforce our nation's immigration laws," DeSantis said. "In order to do that effectively, we are going to need legislation to impose additional duties on local officials and provide funding for those local officials." His call for the session said illegal immigration has caused "massive costs" for Americans.
Among the proposals DeSantis wants is one requiring counties and cities to participate in the federal deportation program and he's seeking the authority to suspend any officials, including those who were elected, who don't comply. He proposes making it a state crime to enter the U.S. illegally. And he wants to require people to show identification and their immigration status before sending remittances abroad. That could essentially prohibit anyone here without legal status from sending money back home.
DeSantis' session call meets surprising opposition from fellow Republicans
With the new administration in the White House, the issue of immigration is once again rippling through state capitals across the country. Some of the proposals by DeSantis are similar to measures that other Republican-led states have passed or proposed and some have faced court challenges. Meanwhile, states led by Democrats have already gone to court to temporarily block the Trump administration's plan to end birthright citizenship, the legal principle that grants citizenship to anyone born in the U.S.
As governor, DeSantis has the authority to convene special sessions and has done so before. But when he called this one the Republican leaders in the state House and Senate surprised many by pushing back.
They say they support President Trump's pledge to combat illegal immigration but want to deal with it and other issues identified by DeSantis on their own schedule. In a letter to the governor, Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Daniel Perez wrote, "As the people's elected representatives, the Legislature, not the Governor, will decide when and what legislation we consider."
It's a marked change from the last six years when the legislature largely went along with what DeSantis wanted, from rejecting federal COVID guidance to sparking a political and eventually legal battle with the Walt Disney Company. It's a sign that as a governor now in his final term, DeSantis may no longer have the political clout to run the party and the state as he did.
Immigrants are growing alarmed, advocates say
Even if they don't pass this week, the measures proposed by DeSantis are raising concerns in a state where one out of every five people is an immigrant. Tessa Petit, who heads the Florida Immigrant Coalition, says the executive orders and actions taken by the Trump administration so far already have immigrant communities shaken. If DeSantis' proposal to give local law enforcement the powers of immigration agents passes, she says, it will only increase the fear.
"People are going to be afraid of police officers," she says. "People are going to be afraid to report crimes. That's going to create a very strong divide between law enforcement and community members."
Petit also says blocking remittances will send shockwaves not just through immigrant communities here, but also to other countries like Haiti and Nicaragua that depend heavily on money from people in the U.S. She says cracking down on remittances could further destabilize these places and drive up migration.
In Tallahassee, at least for now, DeSantis says he could call lawmakers back into another special session if they don't act now. "You can view me as like a dog that's got you on the ankle on immigration," he said last week. "I am not just going to let go." Republican leaders point out that the legislature meets for its regular session in just over a month. And they say they want to deal with immigration and other issues "at the appropriate time."
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