Donald Trump ally Joe Gruters carries immigration enforcement expansion through first Senate committee

The Senate Appropriations Committee has cleared legislation named for President Donald Trump that would empower Florida law enforcement to administer immigration law.

Sen. Joe Gruters, one of President Donald Trump’s top allies in Florida, carried the bill.

“President Trump’s executive orders make it clear, it’s a new day in Washington and citizenship matters,” Gruters, a Sarasota Republican, said. “Immigration is a federal issue, and the federal government is taking the lead. President Trump is closing our borders, protecting our sovereignty, and most importantly, he has the back of law enforcement leaders who are on the front lines protecting our communities from criminal illegal aliens when it comes to cracking down on illegal immigration.”

While filed, in a sense, in response to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ demand the Legislature empower state enforcement of Trump’s mass deportation agenda, the bill takes enforcement power away from the Governor and puts immigration policy under the jurisdiction of Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson.

The legislation (SB 2B) is titled the Tackling & Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy (TRUMP) Act, a nod to the nation’s commander-in-chief over the Governor’s office. Gruters said he based his bill on needs laid out by a series of executive orders Trump issued his first week in office.

Gruters said Florida has already implemented tough legislation that ensures Florida law enforcement cooperates with federal immigration officials enforcing federal law. That includes a law Gruters carried in 2019 that barred sanctuary cities.

This expands on that concept and requires that any Sheriff operating a county jail must enter into a written agreement with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement to help identify and detain criminal undocumented immigrants.

DeSantis has already taken issue with redirecting authority on immigration enforcement from the Governor’s office to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

“It unconstitutionally removes authority to enforce the law from the governor to a lower-level cabinet agency, the department of agriculture, that does not oversee state law enforcement and whose stakeholders often oppose enforcement measures,” DeSantis posted on social media. “By giving enforcement power to the agricultural arm of state government, it ensures that enforcement never actually occurs. In short, it puts the fox in charge of the hen house.”

Simpson, for his part, has applauded legislative leaders for their direction on the issue.

“With a mandate from the American people, President Trump has an aggressive agenda to secure our border, combat illegal immigration and deport criminals. (Senate President) Ben Albritton and (House Speaker) Daniel Perez are working to ensure he has the support and resources to get the job done here in the Sunshine State.”

Gruters said it was important to distribute responsibilities of state government across agencies. He stressed it will empower law enforcement from the local level up. The legislation would create a state immigration enforcement council composed of seven sheriffs, four police chiefs and the executive director of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

“A sheriff will chair the council,” Gruters said. “The council will advise the chief immigration officer on the work of local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration law, recommend strategies to increase the number of available detention beds, facilitate training of local law enforcement, enforcement of federal immigration law and other coordination with the Trump administration.”

Asked by Democrats whether this will lead to raids of schools and sheriffs, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said he has heard no discussion among Florida law enforcement officials of that.

Sen. Jason Pizzo, Senate Minority Leader, also pressed on whether the law will remove protections in Florida from individuals who are testifying in crimes against other criminals.

“Are they no longer protected because we’re talking about something that effectively requires an open investigation is being a modifier for an open, current, ongoing investigation?” he asked.

The Miami-Dade Democrat pointed to specific cases of rapists and other violent criminals who had been convicted on the strength of witnesses who may be in the country illegally and may not have testified without protections in place.

The bill also carried provisions crafted by Sen. Randy Fine, a Palm Bay Republican, that end in-state tuition for certain undocumented individuals.

Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, an Orlando Democrat, took issue with taking a benefit away from those who entered the country as children and grew up in the state.

“What did these young people who we are revoking in-state tuition from, what did they do wrong?” Smith asked.

Fine said it was immoral to offer lower tuition to people in the country illegally rather than to Americans from 49 other states or other U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico.

“The kids that you’re talking about here are victims,” Fine said. “They’re victims of human smuggling, and they are, but we talk about these children as though they were magically teleported into this country, and they were not. They had people who knowingly broke the law to bring them here, and the responsibility for them does not lie with the Legislature.”

Democrats objected to taking the measure up in Special Session at all. Sen. Tina Polsky, a Boca Raton Democrat, noted lawmakers had just a few hours to read legislation on something that arguably wasn’t an emergency.

“This is an issue we should not address without the benefit of experts,” she said.

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