‘Fox in the henhouse’: Gov. DeSantis turns on Wilton Simpson in immigration fight

Gov. Ron DeSantis is at war with an Agriculture Commissioner for the second time in his tenure.

But this time it’s a Republican.

The feud comes amid a rift driven by competing visions of who should be in charge of immigration enforcement in the state.

DeSantis and his staff continue to escalate the conflict with Wilton Simpson, a Republican from Trilby who was Senate President before he was elected head of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in 2022.

The latest salvo against the TRUMP Act moving in the Senate and the House was served up Tuesday morning, as DeSantis accused legislators on the Glenn Beck show as “wanting to give it all to the Commissioner of Agriculture.”

“Legislative leaders wrote a weak immigration bill that vests enforcement in the Commissioner of Agriculture, which creates a conflict of interest given the agriculture industry’s affinity for cheap, illegal foreign labor,” DeSantis posted to X. “It is also the case that the current commissioner, Wilton Simpson, has voted to give drivers licenses and in-state tuition to illegals. He even refused to oppose allowing illegals to practice law in Florida. Do we want the fox guarding the henhouse?”

Simpson fired back.

“I’ve worked since day one to support President Trump and his immigration policies. Florida’s conservative legislature will decide who is best to support President Trump and his team. I’m not the one who opposed and ran against President Trump.  DeSantis’ routine attacks on farmers don’t sit well here in Florida – and apparently not with folks across the country either.”

DeSantis took this argument to national radio and television shows Monday night, pillorying Simpson as the Governor’s vision of strong immigration enforcement vested in his office was dashed by a Senate and House that did an end run around his play call.

He told Mark Levin the bill “takes away the Governor’s authority” and said the Department of Agriculture “is not known for immigration enforcement.”

“The bill that the Legislature proposed mentioned agriculture 23 times. It did not mention deportation one time,” DeSantis said, adding that “liberal journalists that write in Tallahassee” are major proponents of the legislative product, and falsely claiming the Florida Democrats and the ACLU back the bill.

Sean Hannity’s viewers heard a variation on this theme.

“There’s swampy politics everywhere, and some of these legislative leaders foisted a different bill,” DeSantis said, adding the bill “takes power away from me … the power that I’m currently exercising now.”

Simpson advocated for the TRUMP Act on social media Monday, saying it reflects President Donald Trump’s “mandate from the American people” for an “aggressive agenda to secure our border, combat illegal immigration and deport criminals,” and adding that Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Daniel Perez “are working to ensure he has the support and resources to get the job done here in the Sunshine State.”

By the end of the day Monday, a DeSantis spokesperson was diminishing Simpson’s department.

“Florida’s Department of Agriculture does have a law enforcement section, but they’ve never supported the state’s efforts to combat illegal immigration. They sat on the sidelines during Biden’s Border Crisis,” said Jeremy Redfern.

Simpson responded soon thereafter.

“You can insult and spread lies about me all day long, I can take it. But do not insult the officers at Ag Law. They serve honorably and have not been on the sidelines in this fight,” the Commissioner said.

Redfern fired back.

“It’s interesting that Simpson comes into my mentions to scapegoat law enforcement, when, it’s a lack of leadership for why FDACS didn’t support the state’s border mission. Stop scapegoating your officers. It’s a bad look for an elected, though lower-level, cabinet official,” he said.

This argument mirrors language DeSantis used Monday when he argued the legislative product “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.”

Speaker Perez explained the movement of authority Monday, saying it would offer “a singular point of focus in the state government for coordinating immigration” via “an agency with broader reach in the state, and experience working with the federal government and law enforcement.”

It’s worth noting here that Florida currently has an interim Attorney General, though DeSantis’ Chief of Staff James Uthmeier will likely be the Governor’s appointment for the role vacated as Ashley Moody became a U.S. Senator earlier this month.

Donald Trump has not weighed in on this legislation publicly, even as DeSantis noted he had talked to the President. This suggests that DeSantis is on his own, corralling a legislative branch he’s ruled often with an iron fist in the last six years, including the time he engineered end-of-session endorsements for his presidential campaign in 2023.

However, DeSantis will retain loyalty from some legislators, who may support an eventual veto of the product being workshopped in the Capitol.

For his part, DeSantis told Glenn Beck that lawmakers are jealous of his spotlight.

“I think some of them are caught up and ‘Oh, we don’t want the governor to get the win, you know, we’re sick of him doing all this stuff.’ I don’t need the ownership. They can take 100% of the credit. I just want to get the job done,” he claimed.