The Corrupt Republican controlled Florida Legislature is undermining the Trump Immigration Agenda
Today we are sickened once again by the obviously corrupt and RINO establishment infested Florida Legislature that is not supporting President Trump’s efforts to rid illegal aliens from our country and specifically our state and is also not supporting the election reforms offered up by Governor DeSantis. Below you will see a USA Today article discussing this battle as well as Governor Ron DeSantis’ thoughts at what is going on. We 100% agree with Governor DeSantis!
Floridians you must start making calls to your Florida legislators and tell them to Support Governor DeSantis’ legislation. Wake up Florida! The Florida legislature is captured by their donors and in particular developers. This is why they are watering down the Governor’s special legislative session proposals. Not only have they watered them down, but they have also named their watered-down proposal the Trump Act! Ok now just look at this side-to-side comparison and literally start throwing up!
If we stand up now, we can also put a spike in the heart of the Florida Live Local Act as all these illegals will not be there to fill those apartments. Additionally, the Live Local Projects and all the other out of control development in Florida which appears to have been bought and paid by developers lining the pockets of our representatives will be slowed down as their cheap labor is deported. Patriots you must affix bayonets and support Governor DeSantis. Everyone must wake up and now! Call your legislators and read them the riot act.
What is the TRUMP Act? Florida Legislature defies DeSantis, introduces own immigration bill
USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida
In a rare rebuke to a governor whose policies they have previously enthusiastically enacted, the Republican-led Florida Legislature on Monday closed the special session on illegal immigration requested by Gov. Ron DeSantis within minutes of opening it, rejecting his proposals.
Then the Legislature’s Republican leaders called their own special session and presented a different immigration bill, called “Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy,” or the TRUMP Act.
While the new bill supports much of what DeSantis asked for, it would move state-level immigration enforcement and federal immigration coordination under the office of Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, establishing him as the state’s chief immigration officer. The bill also lacks DeSantis’s request for a mandate for law enforcement to comply with immigration officials with heavy penalties for noncompliance.
In a social media video, DeSantis slammed the move he said “bizarrely stripped immigration enforcement power from the governor” and “puts the fox in charge of the hen house,” suggesting that the agricultural industry — which relies heavily on cheap labor — would not come down as hard on employment requirements and deportation as his office would.
https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=pbpost&dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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%3D%3D&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1883992737491628360&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tallahassee.com%2Fstory%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2F2025%2F01%2F28%2Ftrump-act-florida-legislature-desantis-immigrants%2F77990070007%2F&sessionId=fac83c56c82488b000d24ee573502f4534fe572f&siteScreenName=pbpost&theme=light&widgetsVersion=2615f7e52b7e0%3A1702314776716&width=550px
Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Danny Perez, who had previously criticized the need for a special session, accused the governor of insulting members of the Cabinet, local law enforcement and the agricultural industry and stressed that their goal was to work with President Trump.
The new bill creates the chief immigration officer DeSantis wanted (if not where he wanted that officer to be); increases penalties for noncitizen voting and adds penalties for someone helping a noncitizen to vote; increases the penalties for a crime if committed by someone in the country illegally; and repeals in-state tuition at public universities for immigrant students who entered the country illegally.
But it lacks the parts of DeSantis’ agenda that would create criminal charges for law enforcement officers who didn’t enforce immigration measures and a suggested database to track people who send money to their families outside the United States.
What is the TRUMP Act?
The bill, SB 2-B/HB 1B Immigration, is an effort to bring Florida immigration enforcement policies more in line with what the Florida Legislature believes President Trump wants. According to a summary from Albritton and Perez, the bill would:
- Create Florida’s Chief Immigration Officer (CIO) to be the central point of coordination between “the Trump-led federal government, state entities, local governmental entities, and law enforcement agencies to enforce federal immigration law.” The CIO, who would be Agricultural Commissioner Wilton Simpson, would head the new Office of State Immigration Enforcement and would:
- Coordinate with and provide assistance to federal efforts to enforce immigration law.
- Coordinate with and provide assistance to law enforcement agencies and ensure compliance with federal immigration enforcement.
- Monitor local governments for compliance with federal immigration enforcement.
- Award grants to local law enforcement agencies to pay for subletting detention beds to ICE and cover apprenticeships for local law enforcement agencies, which would include the salaries of recruits going through law enforcement training.
- Create a State Immigration Enforcement Council to advise the CIO comprised of the Executive Director of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, seven sheriffs and four police chiefs appointed by the Chief Immigration Officer.
- Establish that if the CIO feels an executive or administrative officer of the state, county or municipality does not enforce immigration duties, they may recommend the governor take action
- Coordinate random audits to ensure businesses are complying with E-Verify requriments
- Give the CIO the sole authority to declare a state of emergency related to illegal immigration, illegal migration, or immigration enforcement.
- Fund the new department with $20,562,630 in recurring funds and $484,467,609 in nonrecurring funds for nearly 150 new employees.
- Expand the existing requirement for a sheriff operating a county detention facility to partner with ICE to also include county jails not operated by a sheriff.
- Require a sheriff or chief correctional officer operating a county detention facility to provide a list of all inmates and their immigration status to ICE upon request.
- Add immigration status to the criteria for bail determination and provide judges with information about a defendant’s immigration status.
- Reclassify misdemeanors to the next highest degree if committed by a person previously convicted of a federal crime related to the reentry of people who have been deported. Felonies were similarly reclassified this way last year.
- Make voting by a noncitizen a third-degree felony whether the person knew their citizenship status or not. Also makes helping a noncitizen to vote a 3rd-degree felony.
- Remove out-of-state tuition waiver for students who are not U.S. citizens or lawfully present in the United States and require re-evaluation of eligibility for all students receiving a fee waiver starting July 1, 2025.
- Offer Florida law enforcement training facilities “in order to further the nation’s mission to address illegal immigration.”