Gov. DeSantis accuses Legislature of ‘theatrics’ and ‘messaging bills’ amid Special Session split

DeSantis AP
'Their new bill is substantially weaker than the proposals I outlined and that are necessary to ensure that Florida leads on fulfilling the Trump Administration’s mandate.'

Gov. Ron DeSantis ripped what he sees as legislative rebellion against his raft of Special Session proposals, calling changes by leaders in the House and Senate insufficient and an insult to its presidential namesake in comments in a video and a social media post Monday.

“We’re not here for theatrics. We’re not here to do messaging bills,” the Governor said in a video.

“The Legislature’s bill is a bait-and-switch tactic trying to create the illusion of an illegal immigration crack down, when it does anything but. It is an insult to name such a weak bill after President Donald Trump, who has been so strong on this issue,” said DeSantis on X Monday.

The Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy Act — the TRUMP Act — is a single bill that substitutes for much of what DeSantis wanted, but he lamented a lot of his wish list isn’t in the package.

“Overall, their new bill is substantially weaker than the proposals I outlined and that are necessary to ensure that Florida leads on fulfilling the Trump Administration’s mandate to enforce immigration law and deport illegal aliens,” DeSantis decried.

“It fails to put an enforceable duty on state & local law enforcement to fully cooperate on illegal immigration enforcement. This means that Florida localities will provide no meaningful assistance to federal efforts,” he added, before casting shade at who can best be described as the Governor’s frenemy, Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, suggesting he wouldn’t enforce immigration law.

“It unconstitutionally removes authority to enforce the law from the Governor to a lower-level cabinet agency, the Department of Agriculture, that does not oversee state law enforcement and whose stakeholders often oppose enforcement measures. By giving enforcement power to the agricultural arm of state government, it ensures that enforcement never actually occurs. In short, it puts the fox in charge of the henhouse.”

Senate President Ben Albritton took issue Monday with much of what DeSantis proposed for the Special Session as not in accordance with what the federal government under Trump wants.

“I don’t support creating criminal penalties against frontline law enforcement officers. I don’t support different standards for protecting law enforcement from the threat of prosecution. We shouldn’t protect some employees and contractors acting on behalf of the state while hanging local law enforcement out to dry,” Albritton said.

The Governor had blasted Albritton and House Speaker Daniel Perez for saying the Special Session call was “premature,” and he again attacked their alleged stalling Monday.

“Though the Florida Legislature’s leadership initially said the call for a Special Session on immigration enforcement was ‘premature,’ they have now finally agreed to come in and do their job,” DeSantis said.

The Governor doubled down on these comments in the video Monday afternoon, saying that “most of the stuff that’s really, really going to be meaningful was not in the proposal” from the Senate and House. He said giving Simpson immigration enforcement power would be a “sop to the people who want cheap labor.”

A.G. Gancarski

A.G. Gancarski has been the Northeast Florida correspondent for Florida Politics since 2014. His work also can be seen in the Washington Post, the New York Post, the Washington Times, and National Review, among other publications. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @AGGancarski


7 comments

  • just sayin

    January 27, 2025 at 2:35 pm

    Putting Agriculture in charge of immigration enforcement is objectively ridiculous.

    • Along for the Ride

      January 27, 2025 at 5:02 pm

      Putting DeSantis is charge of everything is objectively ridiculous

      • just sayin

        January 28, 2025 at 8:19 am

        Great contribution.

      • JustBabs

        January 28, 2025 at 11:12 am

        Good point. People with personal issues and gripes should not be leading millions of Floridians. This bit of pushback on Desantis is most enjoyable. Even if it’s just a fraction of what should have been done by state legislature, all along. He’s been ruling Florida as a dicktator for too long. We want elected leaders with good mental health and emotional stability. Not men who are so insecure they have to put lifts in their shoes and only allow handpicked journalists to attend their constant media whoring for attention.

  • Skeptic

    January 27, 2025 at 3:56 pm

    Lame duck says what?

    • Along for the Ride

      January 27, 2025 at 5:03 pm

      Quack Quack

  • Skeptic

    January 27, 2025 at 3:57 pm

    BTW, if Ronnie is bucking Trump, is he just a RINO?

Comments are closed.


#FlaPol

Florida Politics is a statewide, new media platform covering campaigns, elections, government, policy, and lobbying in Florida. This platform and all of its content are owned by Extensive Enterprises Media.

Publisher: Peter Schorsch @PeterSchorschFL

Contributors & reporters: Phil Ammann, Drew Dixon, Roseanne Dunkelberger, A.G. Gancarski, Ryan Nicol, Jacob Ogles, Cole Pepper, Jesse Scheckner, Drew Wilson, and Mike Wright.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @PeterSchorschFL
Phone: (727) 642-3162
Address: 204 37th Avenue North #182
St. Petersburg, Florida 33704