Ben Albritton, Daniel Perez lay out stiffer penalties for undocumented criminals as part of TRUMP Act revision

An immigration bill under consideration could stiffen penalties for undocumented criminals, including requiring the execution of rapists and murderers.

A new memo from Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Daniel Perez outlines changes that will be brought on the floor to a bill (SB 2B) before lawmakers take a final vote. The legislative leaders both amended a Special Session call and announced updates to what passed out of House and Senate committees Monday.

Both chambers expect to take up the Tackling & Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy (TRUMP) Act later Tuesday. Leaders said they had been in direct contact with President Donald Trump’s White House about what the administration wants to see in anything passed at the state level.

“Last night, we requested and received technical assistance from the Trump Administration,” the memo reads. “We made specific improvements to the TRUMP Act to further align state law with the renewed and expanded enforcement of federal immigration law under President Trump. Below you will find an outline of the enhancements we will incorporate on the Floor later today.”

Sources confirmed to Florida Politics that Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke on Monday to Trump, “pleading” with the President to publicly support his immigration priorities. Trump confirmed he still wants a bill passed in Special Session. But then Trump spoke to Sen. Joe Gruters, a long-time ally and the sponsor of the Legislature-championed bill, about making changes to that legislation that made it stronger and clearly separate from DeSantis’ agenda.

The memo outlines several updates to policy that will be added to the bill.

Those include mandatory death sentences for any undocumented immigrant convicted of a capital offense, such as murder or rape. The legislation also requires the maximum sentencing available to any undocumented immigrant who belongs in a gang.

The bill would also reclassify criminal penalties when an individual who has been deported returns to Florida and commits a crime.

“Today’s amendment reclassifies criminal penalties for all illegal immigrants who commit crimes in our state,” the memo reads.

As far as enforcement, the memo outlines requirements for Florida law enforcement agencies to work with the state’s Chief Immigration Officer, a role given in the bill to the state Agriculture Commissioner, to approve a 287(g) Agreement, or a relationship with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), effectively allowing state and local officers to enforce federal laws.

“As part of the oversight role, the Chief Immigration Officer will ensure agreements are robust enough to cover the anticipated needs of the federal government in various jurisdictions and determine strategies for enhancing agreements in communities that may need more resources,” the memo reads.

The state’s Chief Immigration Officer, under the bill, would work with a State Immigration Enforcement Council, which would recommend strategies for enforcing immigration law and combatting transnational gangs.

The legislation will also now call for updates to individuals’ immigration visas and other identification. It will also include information-sharing

It will also include enforcement measures for local officials who refuse to comply with the law, something DeSantis has previously criticized the Legislature’s bill for failing to adequately address. But it leaves enforcement power for this with the Agriculture Commissioner, not the Governor.

That has prompted a fierce schism between DeSantis, who initially called lawmakers to Tallahassee for a Special Session on several of his own priorities including immigration enforcement, and the Legislature, which closed the Governor’s Special Session with no action and then called a new Special Session to advance a bill generated by leadership. DeSantis has argued it would be unconstitutional to assign immigration enforcement duties to a Cabinet member and not the Governor’s office.

DeSantis lashed out of lawmakers shortly before the memo came out on Dana Loesch’s The Dana Show.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Legislature do anything that got such a negative feedback as what they tried to do yesterday,” DeSantis said. “So they’re not, they haven’t gone into the chamber. They’re still meeting. I don’t know what they’re doing. They’re not really talking to to our office, but the reality is we got to get this done. Are we gonna get it done now? Or we’ll get it done the weekend or next week? We’re gonna keep pushing until we do this because now’s the time for us to finally get the job done.”

The changes outlined in the memo also tasks the Agriculture Commissioner with lobbying Congress to amend the National Crime Prevention and Privacy Act to require the sharing of a person’s immigration status for criminal justice purposes.

The legislation also would set up financial incentives for law enforcement who assist with ICE task forces and would set aside $25 million in state funding for that purpose.

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Peter Schorsch and A.G. Gancarski contributed reporting.

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