JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday signed a set of new laws aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration in Florida.
The new legislation orders the death penalty for undocumented immigrants in the US who are convicted of capital crimes, among other changes.
After a special session late last month spiraled into a clash between Republican legislative leaders and Gov. DeSantis, Florida lawmakers met in another special session this week to pass a package of bills targeting illegal immigration — with DeSantis’ support.
A notable change in the compromise legislation includes doing away with the provision that would have created a new role of chief immigration officer to be held by the state’s agriculture commissioner — an idea DeSantis vehemently opposed. Instead, the measure would create a new state board of immigration enforcement, made up of the governor, the agriculture commissioner and the other two members of Florida’s Cabinet.
The new package also includes proposals that DeSantis had pushed lawmakers to include, such as making it a state crime to enter Florida without legal authorization. Another DeSantis-backed measure would require pretrial detention for people in the country without legal authorization who are charged with forcible felonies.
But State Representative Anna Eskamani said the legislation won’t help most Floridians and is just an attempt to appease President Trump.
“They are going to sign this bill and take a victory parade while our immigrant communities are going to continue to be targeted and live in fear,” Eskamani said.
News4JAX spoke with immigration attorney Andrea Pinson who believes these new laws could have a significant impact on immigrants’ ability to work, and report crimes, among other concerns.
“These are, like sweeping policies that are very harsh, and immigration policies, you know, it will have, for example, the inability for immigrants to access basic needs like medical attention, education, housing, legal help,” said Andrea Pinson, Jax Legal Aid Immigration Managing Attorney. “You’re making now, basically any person who is undocumented, you’re creating a state criminal law. So basically you’re mandatory, detained or for 9 months if you’re just undocumented.”
Pinson said this could create many due process issues in criminal laws and defense.
“People are still eligible for their defenses because, you know, immigration is federal, so we still have access to asylum, cancelation of removal,” Pinson said.
The overall goal of the new laws, according to lawmakers, is to boost state and local participation in the federal government’s work to arrest, detain and deport people in the country without legal authorization.
“The voters who have been talking to me about this for many, many years, who wanted to see very swift action, just know that what the Legislature did today answers the call. This is what you asked for. This is what you expected from us. And this really is kind of just the ticket to the dance. We’re going to be implementing it. There’s going to be a lot of things that happen, but I can tell you, the state of Florida will be safer and secure as a result of this legislation,” DeSantis said.