Jacksonville City Council cracks down on city funding for ‘unauthorized aliens’ … but many exceptions apply

Jacksonville City Hall.

Jacksonville’s supermajority Republican legislative branch is looking to defund illegal immigrants.

Sort of.

A bill passed Tuesday by an 11-7 vote calls on Democratic Mayor Donna Deegan to block city funds from going to unauthorized aliens via cultural service grants. It also urges Deegan to tell what city programs are going for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives, and to account for any non-citizens in public housing.

But the measure, whose passage led to audience members saying “shame, shame, shame” and “Council hates kids,” ultimately had more carveouts than a turkey carcass after Thanksgiving dinner.

By the end, the funding moratorium didn’t apply to funding for service members, victims of domestic violence, human trafficking, or sex trafficking, health services at U.F. Health for all and pregnant women at every hospital, children, and money for infectious diseases.

Exceptions to water down the bill were added in committee and throughout the evening, leading to the bill to be tabled so another could be tacked on, then leading to a 20 minute recess so harried staffers could add a fourth amendment that ordinarily would have been done in committee.

But the overall purpose of the bill beyond the exemptions, said Sponsor Rory Diamond, was to prove this is “Jacksonville” and not Los Angeles, a need made exigent by the porous southern border in recent years and spotlighted by the riots on the west coast.

“Are we going to be a city of laws or are we going to be a sanctuary city,” the Beaches Republican said.

But what Diamond called “exceptions” didn’t suffice for some.

“Kill this bill in its entirety,” said Democrat Jimmy Peluso.

“This is ridiculous. It’s a waste of our time. It’s a waste of our efforts. Stop trying to vilify unauthorized aliens,” added Democrat Tyrona Clark-Murray, who urged Republicans to “grow a pair” and not be a “puppet for their party.”

Republican Ken Amaro said the largely “flawed” bill represented the “intersection of policy and politics,” saying that the ordinance isn’t necessary to find out where tax dollars are going, and that beyond that the “bill doesn’t accomplish anything” given there are “so many exceptions.”

“This is a distraction,” the former newscaster said, lamenting “lines of division” in his booming baritone,” and saying “it may make good politics, but it doesn’t make good policy.”

Republican Michael Boylan said the legislation’s priorities were misplaced, as it doesn’t punish the “enablers” who profit from illegal labor.

“Bureaucratic overreach … political posturing,” said Republican Matt Carlucci about the “bad public policy” in the “flawed” bill.

A Carlucci amendment to add Jacksonville Area Legal Aid services to the list of permissible exceptions was rejected before the final vote.

This is the second illegal immigration bill passed by the Council this year. The “Jacksonville Illegal Immigration Enforcement Act” made illegal immigration a local crime, punishable by at least 30 days in jail.

Mayor Deegan let it become law without her signature. Soon thereafter, General Counsel Michael Fackler suggested to the Sheriff’s Office that it might not be enforceable in light of a federal court challenge to statewide laws against illegal immigration.