Special Session to start Tuesday on TRUMP Act fixes, new Board of Immigration Enforcement

Less than a month after the Legislature passed a sweeping anti-illegal immigration package named for President Donald Trump, Senate and House lawmakers will reconvene for another Special Session on Tuesday to modify the measure.

This time, they have the full support of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has been sparring publicly with Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Daniel Perez since they rejected bills he preferred in favor of their substitute, called the TRUMP Act.

The newly filed bills will address one of the Governor’s biggest concerns by removing a TRUMP Act provision designating Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson as the state’s new chief immigration officer.

Instead, Florida’s border enforcement oversight will be handled by a new State Board of Immigration Enforcement, consisting of the Governor, Agriculture Commissioner, Attorney General, and Chief Financial Officer. All members must agree on a decision for it to become policy.

In a memo to lawmakers, Albritton and Perez said there has been “a great deal of productive discussion” on how Florida can best complement Trump’s efforts to curtail illegal immigration. They credited “important feedback” from DeSantis and Simpson and “technical assistance from the White House” for informing their decision to call for another Special Session to build on the “very strong legislation” passed last month.

“We are proud that over the last few weeks, conversations and debate within the Legislature on these issues have been civil and respectful,” the memo said. “By working together with the Governor towards a shared goal, these proposals and appropriations ensure Florida continues to lead by example with the strongest crackdown on illegal immigration in the nation.”

The TRUMP Act (Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy Act) passed along mostly party lines on Jan. 28. Among other things, it removed a 12-year-old provision granting in-state college tuition waivers to undocumented students and imposed stricter punishments for undocumented immigrants who commit crimes, including requiring mandatory death sentences for those convicted of murder or rape.

But DeSantis hasn’t signed the measure, deriding it as “grotesque” and “weak” and hinting shortly after its passage that he would veto the bill if the Legislature sent it to his desk. (It hasn’t.)

By last week, however, the Governor confirmed that he, Albritton, and Perez had enjoyed “great discussions” on how to make the legislation agreeable for everyone. The product of those talks will be released in bill form on Tuesday, he said in a press note, calling the new legislation “a big win for the people of Florida.”

“The bills to be considered this week in Special Session take ideas from the various proposals and bring them together to enact the strongest legislation to enhance interior enforcement and to combat illegal immigration amongst the fifty states,” he said.

“In working together on this bill, Senate President Ben Albritton and Speaker Danny Perez have been great partners, and we have produced an aggressive bill that we can stand fully behind. I thank the members of the Florida House and Senate for delivering on behalf of the people who sent us here. I also thank Agricultural Commissioner Wilton Simpson for his support of this revised product to help combat illegal immigration. With the enactment of these policies, Florida will help the Trump Administration to deliver on the President’s historic mandate to end illegal immigration.”

The Legislature will consider three sets of bills (SB 2C/HB 1C, SB 4C/HB 3C and SM 6C/HM 5C), all sponsored by Sarasota Republican Sen. Joe Gruters and Dover Republican Rep. Lawrence McClure.

Together, they would:

— Create a State Board of Immigration Enforcement made up of the Governor, Agriculture Commissioner, Attorney General and CFO, who must all agree on a decision for it to become policy. The Board will approve grants for local enforcement efforts to assist federal immigration laws.

— Appropriate $250 million to the grant program, which will reimburse eligible expenses or provide $1,000 bonuses to police involved in Homeland Security task force operations.

— Remove the concept of a single, statewide immigration officer.

— Provide “significant funding” to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to hire additional law enforcement and support positions and build a new North Florida station tasked with curbing illegal immigration within the I-10 corridor.

— Require pretrial detention for undocumented immigrants who commit forcible felonies such as murder, arson, rape, kidnapping, armed robbery, aggravated assault and carjacking.

— Replaces Florida’s Unauthorized Alien Transport Program, known commonly as DeSantis’ migrant flights program, with a new program where the transport of undocumented immigrants is handled only at the federal government’s direction, with state taxpayer costs fully reimbursed.

— Create state-level crimes for immigrants who illegally enter and re-enter Florida.

— Expands information-sharing to help U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to enforce immigration law and target transnational gangs.

Read the bill summaries, proclamation and Governor’s memo below.

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