Justin Hollis, a veteran consultant and political strategist, is joining Weatherford Capital as Vice President of Growth and Partnerships, the firm announced this month. 

Hollis previously served as a partner at The Southern Group, one of the state’s top lobbying firms by compensation and one of the top firms in the southeastern U.S. There, he forged valuable relationships with private investment firms and elected officials, making him an asset to Weatherford Capital, a firm co-founded by former Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford. 

“Justin’s exceptional leadership, keen understanding of policy, and unwavering commitment to excellence align with our mission,” said Weatherford, the firm’s managing partner. “As our portfolio companies continue to grow and transform industries, Justin will play an integral role in advancing that growth with his experience and relationships.”

Before his work with The Southern Group, Hollis was the executive director of the Beer Industry of Florida, where he advocated for the state’s largest beer distributors in one of the state’s most complex regulated industries. 

“I am thrilled to embark on this exciting new opportunity with the exceptional team at Weatherford Capital,” Hollis said. “Their investments are propelling some of the nation’s greatest innovations forward and yielding strong returns for their investors. With my experience in leadership, policy, and business development, I aim to advance those initiatives further.”

Hollis will be based in Weatherford Capital’s Tampa office, a short drive from Lakeland, where he lives with his wife Rachel and their two children. 

In addition to his service with The Southern Group and the Beer Industry of Florida, Hollis was one of former Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam’s longtime strategists. He also previously chaired Putnam’s political committee, Florida Grown PC, throughout Putnam’s unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in 2018. With Hollis as chair, that committee reeled in more than $29.5 million in contributions.

Hollis quietly announced his departure from the Beer Industry of Florida earlier this month when the organization announced it was merging with the Florida Beer Wholesalers Association. 

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As Republicans look at changing legal immigration, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna wants Congress to change asylum rules.

She filed the House version of the Refugees Using Legal Entry Safely (RULES) Act.

“The days of open-border chaos are over,” the St. Petersburg Republican said.

Sen. Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Republican, filed similar legislation in the Senate earlier this month.

“I’m joining Senator Moreno in introducing the RULES Act to put an end to the rampant fraud and abuse in our asylum system. America is a nation of law and order—not a free-for-all for illegal aliens gaming the system,” Luna said.

“If you want asylum in the greatest country on Earth, you follow our rules, period. No more loopholes, no more catch-and-release, no more second chances for lawbreakers. We are taking our border back.”

The bill would restrict asylum claims only to those entering the country at legal ports of entry. It also stated individuals making any claims cannot be released or paroled into the U.S. until cases are adjudicated in court.

As written, the legislation would bar anyone denied asylum in the process to apply again at a later date. It would also prohibit anybody who had previously entered the country from seeking “this cherished humanitarian help.”

More than 100,000 individuals were granted asylum in the fiscal year that ended in 2024, President Joe Biden’s last year in office, according to the Immigration Policy Institute. By comparison, the last full year under President Donald Trump’s first term saw about 11,400 admissions to the U.S. on asylum claims.

Luna’s bill was filed after Trump took several steps to restrict legal immigration, including revoking humanitarian parole programs for Cubans, Venezuelans and Haitians in the United States. That is something other representatives from Florida, such as Rep. María Elvira Salazar, a Hialeah Republican, have asked the President to reconsider.

The Homeland Security Department also just vacated any extension of Temporary Protected Status for refugees of Venezuela.

It’s unclear how a change in asylum status and the restrictions on new applications would apply to individuals already in the United States who will lose legal status under the new changes.

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to tub-thump against the TRUMP Act, a “grotesque” and  “weak, weak, weak” legislative bill fighting illegal immigration that he says he will veto if they ever send it his way.

As has been the case all week, DeSantis is delivering his verdict at press conferences, the latest in Destin on Friday where he urged legislators to buck Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Daniel Perez. He suggested the bill hadn’t been transmitted yet because legislators can’t handle the rejection he believes will inevitably come.

“If this is such good legislation, why have they not sent me the bill yet to act on? Why are they holding the bill for me to act on? And I think the reason is because if we get the bill and we do an event where we have a lot of people and I veto the bill in front of this crowd, is the crowd going to cheer or is the crowd going to boo? The crowd’s going to cheer and we know that.”

DeSantis suggested that legislators were cowed by the power leadership has in the Senate and House.

“A lot of these guys get spooked by that… because they get a lot of pressure from the leadership. If you buck the leadership, they take away your committee assignments. They won’t hear your bills, they take away your projects. And a lot of these guys get spooked by that, although let me just tell you, you need to be willing to take consequences to stand to do what’s right. You shouldn’t let them bully you,” DeSantis said, before issuing a threat of his own.

“We’re going to get involved in some of these legislative primaries because I just think that if you’ve campaigned one way and you get up and you do something different, we need to expose that for the voters,” DeSantis said.

DeSantis’ frustration voiced Friday about legislators who “fall into line” under “pressure” to support a “jalopy” of a bill from legislative leadership didn’t stop there, as he said many in Tallahassee would vote for the “stronger” product he prefers.

“I’m so sick of politicians campaigning, telling you they’re going to be tough on it and then squish out,” DeSantis said, blasting Senate and House leaders for saying his call for a Special Session was a “stunt” and “premature” before not complying with enacting his proposals.

“They fought back, they had their excuses,” DeSantis said, accusing House and Senate leaders of creating legislation that “didn’t answer the call” and would make immigration enforcement less effect under “willing partner” Donald Trump than even under Joe Biden with current law.

“It actually undercuts what we’re already doing,” DeSantis said, citing Haiti as an example.

“We’ve interdicted thousands and thousands of illegals,” he said, “saving lives” from the contraband carried by refugees.

“The bill the Legislature sent me actually terminates the state of emergency,” he said, adding that it disempowers his authority as Governor.

“They eliminated any immigration enforcement from the Governor and state agencies … and they lodged it in the Commissioner of Agriculture,” DeSantis complained, reprising his “fox in the henhouse” harrumph about Wilton Simpson, the egg farmer from Trilby who would be charged with immigration enforcement in the legislature’s bill. DeSantis further lamented the legislature’s approach to immigration enforcement offers a “mother may I” process for coordination between state, local, and federal officials.

“The reason they did it,” he said, was to “stymie” immigration enforcement and allow illegal “cheap labor” for various industries under Simpson’s watch, creating a “massive corporate subsidy” with socialized costs “on our communities” via policy choices that would make Florida a “sanctuary state.”

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