TITUSVILLE & FORT MYERS, FL - On January 29 2025, Governor Ron DeSantis held a series of roundtable discussions with law enforcement officials and Floridians impacted by illegal immigration to discuss the urgent need for Florida to pass strong legislation to counter the illegal immigration crisis and assist the Trump Administration in border enforcement. Governor DeSantis also presided over the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Florida Highway Patrol-a driving force that has been hard at work on immigration enforcement in Florida-and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations division.

Governor DeSantis was joined by Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey, Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Executive Director Dave Kerner, and Angel Wife Nikki Jones. Sheriff Ivey and Director Kerner discussed the failures of the legislature’s recently passed bill to provide support and authority to law enforcement entities currently engaged and equipped to enforce immigration law in Florida.

“The bill the Florida Legislature passed last night fails to honor our promises to voters, fails to meet the moment, and would actually weaken state immigration enforcement,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “We must have the strongest law in the nation on immigration enforcement that will guarantee state and local deportation assistance, end catch and release, eliminate magnets such as remittances, and adopt supporting policies that will protect Floridians.”

“The legislature’s bill will stop FHP and FDLE’s efforts to collaborate with local and federal agencies by frustrating communication requests for assistance and instead put roadblocks up that pervert the execution and enforcement of Florida immigration law,” said FLHSMV Executive Director Dave Kerner. “Governor DeSantis understands the role of law enforcement and wants to provide the strongest immigration law possible, empowering law enforcement to get to work and deport illegal aliens residing in the state.”

Earlier this month, Governor DeSantis called a special session of the Florida legislature to address, among other pressing issues, the illegal immigration crisis affecting communities across the state of Florida. 

His proposals included:

• Repealing in-state college tuition for illegal immigrant students (passed in 2014)
• Requiring all law enforcement agencies to participate in the 287(g) program, which allows ICE to partner with state and local law enforcement partners to arrest and remove noncitizens who undermine our nation’s safety.
• Expanding the Unauthorized Alien Transport Program, which we used to send aliens to so-called “sanctuary jurisdictions,” to allow for the transportation of illegal aliens outside of the United States.
• Requiring a person registering to vote to affirm that he or she is a United States citizen and legal resident of Florida.
• Requiring a licensee to verify the identity of each sender of a foreign remittance transfer.
• Increasing the crime for an unauthorized alien who falsely swears to an oath or affirmation in connection with or arising out of voting or elections to a felony of the second degree.
• Increasing the crime for an unauthorized alien who willfully submits any false voter registration information to a second-degree felony.
• Making it a state crime for aliens entering the United States illegally, with increasing punishment intervals for repeat offenders.
• Presuming illegal aliens are flight risks and deny them bail.
• Strengthening law enforcement against gangs by expanding the statutory definition of “gangs” to include certain Venezuelan street gangs. 

Instead of passing a bill with these critical elements, the legislature passed a weaker bill that effectively guts immigration enforcements in the state of Florida. 

Their bill:

1. Still fails to address remittances.
2. Still fails to create a rebuttal presumption against bail release for illegal aliens in the criminal justice system.
3. Still fails to affirmatively require maximum state and local law enforcement to participate in the federal deportation program.
4. Still doesn’t allocate enough resources or law enforcement personnel in the state towards deportation efforts.
5. Still unconstitutionally removes immigration enforcement authority from the purview of the governor and assigns it to a bureaucracy that has never traditionally been involved in immigration enforcement: the Florida Department of Agriculture.
6. Still creates a conflict of interest by having the agricultural commissioner-who represents special interests that traditionally oppose strong immigration enforcement-run enforcement operations.
7. Still gives enforcement power to a bureaucracy not capable or equipped to handle it.
8. Still fails to make it an enhanced crime for an illegal alien to register to vote.

Governor DeSantis is working toward ending the illegal immigration crisis in the Sunshine State. He has enacted the nation’s strongest E-Verify laws, implemented price transparency to reveal the true economic impact of illegal immigration on social and public services, and has bolstered law enforcement and Florida State Guard units to patrol Florida’s southern waters and sent reinforcements to help secure the Southern Border. As enforcement operations begin to ramp up under President Trump’s leadership, the time for delay is over; the time to act is now. There can be no half-measures.