Don’t Be ‘passive’: Desantis Needles Legislators With New Hard-line Illegal Immigration Proposals

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis doubled down on his push for the state to pass new laws to fight illegal immigration, even as Republican legislative leaders are reticent to do anything until the regular session that begins in March.

During a news conference Wednesday, DeSantis cited President-elect Donald Trump’s forthcoming administration for creating a sense of urgency on the issue, saying his administration would not be approaching the change in leadership in a “lackadaisical fashion” and urged lawmakers not to be “passive” but “bold” and “strong.”

By making the announcement, DeSantis was escalating his power struggle with Republican leaders in the Legislature, who are new at the helm of their respective chambers. Florida House Speaker Danny Perez and Florida Senate President Ben Albritton on Monday stressed they supported the incoming president but called the idea of a special session later this month “premature” and “irresponsible,” given that Trump had not yet announced his executive orders and that the Legislature would be convening for its regular session March 4.

“You’re basically saying after four years of Biden’s really destructive border policies that it’s somehow premature to act with a new president coming in? Are you kidding me?” DeSantis responded to reporters when asked about the standoff during a media briefing in Winter Haven. “This is the time to act.”

The DeSantis administration has been perplexed by the reluctance of legislative leaders to act. One high-ranking member of the administration, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the impasse, said that none of the special session concepts mentioned by the governor should come as a surprise to lawmakers — noting, for example, that DeSantis first started talking about a need to handle the state’s condo crisis last fall.

The administration official, however, said the governor's office has heard nothing from legislative leaders about the proposals — although they have heard from rank-and-file members eager to sponsor bills to assist the administration.

Perez or Albritton did not comment publicly about DeSantis’ remarks on Wednesday. But when asked about the lack of communication between the governor’s office and legislative leaders, spokespeople for both Albritton and Perez said neither legislative leader got much notice that the governor was going to go ahead with a special session. They said they did, however, get a detailed sheet outlining legislative proposals last Friday.

Katie Betta, a spokesperson for Albritton, and Amelia Angleton, a spokesperson for Perez, said in a joint email to POLITICO that Albritton received a call from DeSantis 15 minutes prior to his announcement on Monday that he was announcing the session. Perez was flying to Miami when he received a voice mail message. They said that legislative leaders have still not “seen any actual bill language” backed by the governor's office, adding that any member may choose to file a bill.

DeSantis said Wednesday that he’d already talked to Trump, as well as the president-elect’s policy team, about what their plans were. And Trump had praised DeSantis, his one-time primary foe, for calling the session.

The four pages received by legislative leaders go well beyond what DeSantis outlined on Wednesday — not just on immigration, but a slew of other policy areas.

On immigration, the governor’s office proposed charging law enforcement officers with misdemeanors and elected officials with felonies if they do not fully cooperate in the enforcement of immigration laws. It also called for expanding DeSantis’ migrant transport program so that migrants could be shipped outside of the United States.

The governor’s office also called for making sweeping changes to how citizen initiatives make the ballot in Florida. One of those changes would let the secretary of state, who works for the governor, decertify initiatives if state officials determine that a petition did not get enough valid signatures. This past year the state’s election crimes office said it found examples of fraudulent signatures on initiatives that were used to get the abortion access amendment on the ballot.

The DeSantis administration also proposed addressing the state's condo crisis by having the State Board of Administration, which handles the state’s pension plan, administer a loan program for condo associations where the state would guarantee up to 50 percent of the loan.