Will Donald Trump step in between Ron DeSantis, Legislature over immigration?

In a rare clash, Ron DeSantis says he will veto a Republican-backed immigration bill, calling it insufficient and urging public pressure on lawmakers. Image via Ashleigh Lucas/WUFT News.

Florida’s Legislature passed a controversial package of immigration measures late Tuesday that Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized as inadequate, but a procedural maneuver might mean the Governor won’t be able to veto it immediately until President Donald Trump has a chance to weigh in.

The Senate passed its version of the bill 21-16. Six Republicans joined every Democrat in opposing it. In the House, it passed 82-30.

Ahead of the final vote in the Capitol, DeSantis derided the Legislature’s effort as “weak, weak, weak,” signaling a possible veto.

“It’s a weak bill, but they named it the Trump Act. They think by putting the name of a strong President on a weak bill that is somehow going to pull the wool over the eyes,” DeSantis said in an interview on Fox News late Tuesday night.

Lawmakers, who had added provisions to their proposals requested by the Trump administration earlier in the day, didn’t immediately transmit the bill to the Governor’s desk for his consideration. This move could give Trump time to signal his support from Washington, complicating the Governor’s campaign for tougher measures.

The proposals would make the state’s agriculture commissioner the top liaison between state and federal immigration agencies; require the death penalty for immigrants in the U.S. illegally and convicted of capital offenses, such as raping or murdering a child; provide money to state and local law enforcement enforcing immigration laws; and make it a felony for non-citizens to vote in elections.

DeSantis said the Agriculture Commissioner’s new role weakened his authority, and he insisted that lawmakers should require state and local law enforcement agencies to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on deportation efforts.

Notably, Florida’s measures would require employers to verify the work eligibility of job applicants using the federal government’s e-Verify system, but it offers businesses chances to ignore the law and correct violations before serious penalties were to kick in. That was widely seen as a nod to the state’s important agricultural and construction industries.

The proposals were among the first in the United States to emerge from any state capital since Trump’s inauguration and his promise to close the nation’s borders and begin mass deportations of immigrants already in the country illegally.

During the Senate’s debate, Sen. Jason Pizzo, D-Hollywood, and bill sponsor Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, argued over appropriate penalties for immigrants without permanent legal residency in the U.S.

Gruters said he believes the harsh penalties against immigrants convicted of crimes would deter their behavior. Pizzo said he saw it differently.

“Do you really think somebody who’s seeing dead bodies in the street and absolute despair, destruction, blight and murderous gang activity in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, thinks that, ‘Oh, I should reconsider going to the United States because I may end up at a nice Geo facility down the street with a barber shop, three square meals a day, laundry, vocational training, a GED and climate control,’” Pizzo said. “Do you really think that’s a deterrent?”

Pizzo was referring to private immigration detention facilities operated by a federal contractor, the Geo Group Inc.

Gruters replied, “You come to our country, don’t commit any crimes.”

“I’ll take it by that statement that it’s OK to be here illegally, as long as you don’t commit any crimes,” Pizzo said.

Tuesday’s votes came during a tumultuous week in the Capitol, after what amounted to a mutiny by legislative Republicans against immigration proposals demanded by DeSantis. Late Tuesday, the Governor praised the six Senate Republicans who opposed the bill as lawmakers “who bucked the Senate amnesty caucus, stood strong for the people of Florida and opposed the weak, toothless immigration bill.”

Tensions between the two branches of government deteriorated to the point where the Governor questioned the commitment of the state’s elected Agricultural Commissioner, Wilton Simpson, to fight for immigration laws, as Simpson pushed back with a reminder that DeSantis had once opposed Trump for the Republican presidential nomination.

In a surprise move, state lawmakers coordinated directly with the Trump administration to add proposals earlier Tuesday to better support Trump’s immigration policies. The decision was a further affront to DeSantis, who had pressed Trump to support the Governor’s own package of immigration law changes.

During floor debate Tuesday, Democrats pleaded unsuccessfully to allow children whose immigrant parents brought them to the U.S. to continue paying in-state tuition at Florida’s colleges and universities. They also urged Republicans to block immigration agents from barging into public school classrooms to enforce deportation orders against families.

Sen. Darryl Rouson, a St.Petersburg Democrat, said he was concerned with banning in-state tuition – which would add tens of thousands of dollars per year to the cost of a college education – because it doesn’t grandfather students currently in school. He said that would put students at risk of not graduating.

“We should always strive to protect the American dream, and for these kids, education is a vital part of that dream,” Rouson said. “Let us keep Lady Liberty’s life burning right beside that golden door.”

Under Republican House Speaker Daniel Perez from Miami and Senate President Ben Albritton, a Bartow Republican, the package was known as the “Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy Act,” which lawmakers called the Trump Act in deference to the president.

It was intended as a counterpoint to DeSantis’ own proposed immigration package.

The Legislature responded to DeSantis’ call for a special session Monday but quickly adjourned and started their own session in what appears to be one of the first times that Florida Republicans have openly rebuffed the Governor’s agenda.

The Republican-led Legislature, which has worked harmoniously with the Governor since he took office, called the special session “premature” and accused DeSantis of using it to advance his own goals.

The Governor took to social media and conservative broadcast interviews to criticize the Legislature’s efforts, condemning the use of the agricultural department for immigration enforcement and saying it would ensure that enforcement would never occur.

“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,” DeSantis said in the post.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is a sprawling agency responsible for weapons permits and electric vehicle chargers.

One DeSantis proposal would have mandated that local law enforcement officers face criminal penalties or suspension for not cooperating in the Governor’s deportation program. Albritton called it unconstitutional.

Perez and Albritton accused the Governor of not reading their proposals and insulting his fellow Cabinet officer, local law enforcement officers, and Florida’s agricultural community, including the “hard-working farmers who work day and night to keep food on grocery stores shelves across Florida.”

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Ella Thompson reports; produced by Fresh Take Florida, a news service of the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. This reporter can be reached at ellathompson@freshtakeflorida.com. You can donate to support our students here.