Florida Republicans upend DeSantis' plans as state tries to align with Trump's immigration orders
Source: NBC News
Jan. 27, 2025, 10:42 AM EST / Updated Jan. 27, 2025, 3:14 PM EST
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — President Donald Trump’s push to quickly overhaul the nation’s immigration system is at the center of a civil war between Republicans in Florida, with Gov. Ron DeSantis facing off against the GOP-dominated state Legislature. DeSantis earlier this month called lawmakers back to Tallahassee for a special legislative session with the explicit purpose of aligning state law with an expected wave of immigration-focused executive orders from Trump. But Republican leaders in both the state House and Senate, who had previously panned DeSantis' plans as "premature," abruptly ended the special session Monday morning and quickly called their own.
The move effectively killed all the legislation already filed by DeSantis’ allies, and allowed Republican leadership to draw up their own immigration proposals, including language that puts the governor in a tricky political position. The plan from legislative leaders would take sweeping immigration oversight authority away from DeSantis and move it to Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, a statewide elected official who is eyeing a run for governor in 2026 and has had an icy relationship with DeSantis.
Florida state House Speaker Danny Perez said that under their plan, Simpson would be designated the state’s “chief immigration officer,” a position that does not currently exist. DeSantis also wants to create that position, but would have kept it under his authority. “We need a singular point of focus in the state government for coordinating immigration,” Perez said. “We need an agency with broader reach in the state, and experience working with the federal government and law enforcement.”
The move backs DeSantis into a corner — and underscores he does not hold the political sway in the state that he did in the lead-up to his 2024 presidential campaign.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/immigration/florida-republicans-upend-desantis-trump-immigration-push-rcna189363
I saw this earlier but glad I waited for the updates....
See... all those "undocumented workers" on the farms there are in danger and here is how they will attempt to insulate them.
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