Immigration enforcement bill clears first House committee

Image via Reuters.

A House panel gave a thumbs-up Thursday to a bill that would intensify Florida’s crackdown against illegal immigration.

Inspired by Gov. Ron DeSantis, the bill (HB 1355) is a multi-prong proposal. It would require law enforcement to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It would also prevent local governments from contracting with businesses that transport immigrants who’ve entered the country unlawfully.

Stuart Republican Rep. John Snyder is the bill sponsor. The Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee OK’d the measure 12-5 vote.

“This bill is about a federal government that has completely relinquished control of the southern border,” Snyder told committee members.

The proposal is among the more contentious bills of the 2022 Legislative Session. More than a dozen attendees spoke against the measure, decrying it as a cruel and unnecessary proposal.

Republicans including Lithia Rep. Mike Beltran, however, asserted the bill is in response to federal inaction against illegal immigration.

“We would be seizing their airplanes if we had conscientious federal prosecutors who are enforcing our law fully, but here we have the federal government conspiring with these companies to do that,” said Beltran of federally chartered flights carrying immigrants into Florida.

DeSantis unveiled the proposal last year after the federal government began flying immigrants who entered the country illegally into Florida on overnight flights. The Governor’s Office claimed knowledge of at least 70 flights at the time, and lambasted President Joe Biden over the issue.

While the issue is largely partisan in nature, Democratic Rep. James Bush of Miami voted in favor of the proposal, making him the first Democratic lawmaker to do so. He welcomed opponents of the bill to discuss the proposal with him, many of whom argued it would harm children.

“We have to address this,” Bush said of illegal immigration.

Indeed, circumstances at the border are dire and seemingly growing worse. Border authorities in 2021 recorded a record-breaking 1.7 million border arrests. And moving forward, Reuters reports officials are bracing to average as many as 9,000 daily border arrests later in spring.

Democrats including Brandon Rep. Andrew Learned, however, characterize the proposal as political fodder.

“This bill … is to satisfy the Twitter trolls of the Governor and his presidential ambitions,” said Learned, a Navy Reserve Officer who recently helped an Afghan interpreter resettle in Florida.

Some church leaders also are lambasting the bill, citing fears they too will be lampooned by the measure.

The Florida Council of Churches described the legislation as “religious persecution and restriction on our freedom of worship” in a recently published open letter.

The proposal will appear next before the State Affairs Committee and Judiciary Committee. Fernandina Beach Republican Sen. Aaron Bean is the companion bill sponsor (SB 1808).