Florida lawmakers passed a sweeping bill Tuesday night that centralizes immigration enforcement in a single state agency.
Named the TRUMP Act – an acronym for “Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy’’ – the measure was crafted to make sure Florida is in lockstep with President Trump’s federal policies combating illegal immigration.
The bill creates a new Office of State Immigration Enforcement and makes Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson the state’s Chief Immigration Officer.
It also budgets $500 million to hire more law enforcement officers and lease more bed space in jails and state prisons to house migrants in the country illegally. But the bill also toughens penalties on crimes committed by undocumented immigrants and requires the death penalty if they are convicted of a capital offense.
In addition, the bill requires law enforcement agencies to join federal detention efforts and incentivizes it by offering $1,000 bonuses to individual officers or deputies who assist in large-scale federal raids.
Over the objections of Democrats, the bill would also end in-state tuition for undocumented college and university students as of July 1 of this year. An estimated 6,100 students receive the benefit.
“They are not our immigration problem,’’ said Democrat Rep. Christine Hunschofsky of Parkland in voting no. “They are not making our communities less safe.’’
After quickly moving the 84-page bill through the House and Senate in less than 48 hours, lawmakers passed it just before 9 p.m. Tuesday on a 21 to 16 vote in the Senate and 82 to 30 in the House. Six Republican lawmakers joined every Democrat in the legislature in opposing the measure.
Republican House Speaker Daniel Perez praised his colleagues for approving the bill.
“This special session represents a historic moment,’’ Perez said. “The president of the United States put out a call to the states for help. And this Florida Legislature answered.
But Democratic House Representative Fentrice Driskell said the legislation doesn’t prioritize the needs of Floridians.
“It’s the people of Florida who lose when we put petty partisan interests ahead of their needs, for example, affordability and lowering property insurance costs,’’ Driskell said.
Before the vote, Driskell attempted to amend the bill to include a conscientious objector clause for religious leaders, schoolteachers and counselors who she said would be put in the position of turning in undocumented congregants and students to authorities, but the amendment was loudly shot down.
Ahead of the vote, Gov. Ron DeSantis called the bill “weak, weak, weak” and on Wednesday threatened to veto it. “The veto pen is ready,’’ DeSantis posted on X while he was in Titusville meeting with local law enforcement officials. The governor criticized moving immigration enforcement to the Agriculture Commissioner’s purview and wants tighter rules that punish law enforcement officers who don’t comply with immigration orders and ban remittances undocumented workers send back to their home countries.
In comments on the floor before the vote on Tuesday night, Sarasota Republican Sen. Joe Gruters, co-sponsor of the Senate version of the bill, said, “I know some of my colleagues said this bill doesn’t go far enough, and it isn’t a silver bullet, “Is it perfect? It’s not. But it reflects the executive orders the president has issued. We made it the strongest bill we could for the state.’’