Gov. DeSantis PHOTO COURTESY OF FLGOV.COM

By David L Snelling

Miami – Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has outlined his plan to crackdown on illegal immigration ahead of the Jan. 27 special session called to assist President Trump with the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.

DeSantis said he wants Florida to play an important role by helping federal agencies round up illegal immigrants for deportation and giving state police and local sheriff departments the authority to detain undocumented immigrants.

DeSantis is also proposing to give himself the power to transport undocumented immigrants outside of the U.S., like his contentious initiative that sent 50 migrants to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts in 2022.

The governor is mandating the maximum participation in the 287(g)-deportation program, which allows U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to partner with local law enforcement officials to remove incarcerated noncitizens from the country.

Law enforcement officials who refuse to take part could face punishment including suspensions and possibly criminal charges.

Currently, there are about one million undocumented immigrants living in Florida, according to the Pew Research Center.

The governor also wants to ban illegal immigrants from sending money to families in their native countries and make it a state crime and a process for self-deportation for anyone who enters the U.S. illegally.

He’s seeking to impose stiffer criminal penalties for illegal entry or attempted illegal entry in the country than federal immigration law which is a fine up to $250 and six months in jail.

“Florida is ready to lead,” DeSantis said in a press release. “With President Trump taking office, Florida has a unique opportunity to help facilitate the end to America’s immigration crisis.”

DeSantis’ immigration crackdown proposal also would ban in-state college tuition for illegal immigrant students attending public universities and colleges.

Republican State Sen. Randy Fine filed a similar bill for the upcoming regular legislative session.

Currently, undocumented Florida students can qualify for in-state tuition but DeSantis and Fine are seeking a policy shift in the state that could impact the acceptance rates for public universities and colleges.

DeSantis’ proposed policy also would require voter registration affirmation of U.S. citizenship and Florida residency and increase penalties for unauthorized aliens committing voter fraud or providing false voter registration information.

“If people know they are going to be held accountable, they will be much less likely to do it,” he said.

DeSantis said he wants to boost his state-led E-verify program which requires money transfer companies to verify an individual’s citizenship before transmitting any funds.

The governor said many individuals who enter the country illegally do so to work menial jobs at higher wages than they’d receive in their native countries, then send money back to family and friends.

DeSantis also wants to create a rebuttable presumption that illegal aliens are flight risks and denied bail, expand the Unauthorized Alien Transport Program (UATP) to detain and facilitate the deportation of illegal immigrants, appoint a dedicated officer to oversee coordination with federal authorities and the UATP, and broaden the legal definition of gang-related activities to include more groups of dangerous illegal aliens.

“You say deport the criminals. If they are here, in a gang and haven’t committed a crime yet, are you supposed to wait until someone is victimized?” he said. “Your illegal entry was a crime. We get that on the books and then we send you back home.”

Some Republicans say DeSantis calling a special session before the regular session which begins in March is premature and completely irresponsible.

House Speaker Daniel Perez, a Miami Republican and Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, in a joint letter criticized the call for a special session.

They said it was scheduled without legislators’ knowledge of the bill language in full detail.

“As the people’s elected representatives, the Legislature, not the Governor, will decide when and what legislation we consider,” the two wrote in the joint letter.

DeSantis responded: “I was honestly surprised by their letter,” DeSantis said. “It’s never premature to do the right thing.”

Some local law enforcement officials expressed a concern for DeSantis’ proposed immigration crackdown plan because of racial profiling in Haitian and Latino communities.

However, new Miami-Dade County Sheriff Rosanna Cordero-Stutz, a Republican, said her office will continue to cooperate with federal law enforcement officials in county jails.

Local Haitian leaders asked Biden shortly before he left office to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) to thousands of Haitians who fear deportation, to no avail.

In his final days in office, Biden extended TPS to nearly 1 million people from El Salvador, Venezuela, Ukraine and Sudan for an additional 18 months but excluded Haitian migrants.