DeSantis comes to Jax to push immigration proposals

Appearing in Jacksonville, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday that now is the time to help President Donald Trump wipe out illegal immigration.

The governor came to Jacksonville four days before the Florida Legislature meets in special session to consider DeSantis’ immigration proposals and other initiatves.

He appeared with Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters; Rep. Kiyan Michael, R-Jacksonville; Dave Kerner, executive director of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles; and other officials to discuss proposals he wants the Legislature to enact.

Among the proposals, DeSantis will ask lawmakers to allocate money to help local law enforcement agencies arrest and jail illegal immigrants, keeping them behind bars until immigration officials can secure, then deport them.

“We want our localities, municipalities, counties and, of course, state — all of them to help facilitate this important mission,” DeSantis said. “(It would) not displace the federal government’s role — obviously it is their primary responsibility — but to complement that so that we have robust interior enforcement of our nation’s laws again.”

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DeSantis also has proposed:

• Mandating maximum participation in deportation efforts, with penalties for non-compliance, including suspension of public officials.
• Establishing a state crime for entering the U.S. illegally and a process for self-deportation.
• Expanding the Unauthorized Alien Transport Program to detain and facilitate the deportation of illegal aliens from the U.S.
• Broadening the legal definition of gang-related activities to include more groups of dangerous illegal aliens.
• Repealing in-state college tuition for illegal immigrant students.
• Increasing penalties for unauthorized aliens committing voter fraud or providing false voter registration information.
• Mandating identity verification for foreign remittance transfers.
• Creating a presumption that illegal aliens are flight risks and deny bail. 

Michael, the Jacksonville legislator, introduced a bill in mid-2023 that DeSantis signed in Jacksonville to institute immigration reforms.

The new law requires private employers to use the E-Verify system to verify the eligibility of newly hired employees; fines employers $1,000 per day if they fail to use E-Verify; and suspends the licenses of those employers until they come back into compliance.

Michael’s son Brandon died in an auto accident in 2007 after being hit by a twice-deported immigrant with no driver’s license. She said Thursday that reforms must be made at the state level to help a new president who wants to stop illegal immigration, because “we have been overrun.”

“We’ve got to finally get this thing right, and we have now at the national level a president that wants to do that. For me, it makes sense that we follow his lead and be ahead of everybody else,” she said. “We need the cooperation — we need other sheriffs to say they will sign on and say they will cooperate with the federal aid. I will also make sure that we detain these illegals.”

Kerner pointed to 2,000 Florida Highway Patrol troopers helping federal officials deal with “hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants coming out of Mexico.” He said he expects an immediate increase in help from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to handle that.

Kerner said next week’s special session will help efforts to track down drug cartel members and deport them.

“This is the moment that we need as law enforcement officers, for the Legislature to properly fund and prepare us to do battle,” he said. “This is the moment in time for legislation to properly fund what we need, and to do it. There is no reason, from an officer safety standpoint, to delay this process.”

Waters said a Mexican drug cartel has already been an issue in Jacksonville.

The Sheriff’s Office this month arrested 14 people and dismantled what Waters called a large-scale drug distribution network that spanned Florida, North Carolina, Texas and Mexico.

The enforcement effort, called Operation Jacob’s Ladder, seized 2.3 kilograms of fentanyl, 74 kilograms of cocaine, plus methamphetamine, guns and money.

Waters said his department is ready to do its part to handle illegal immigrants. The number of illegal immigrants arrested in Jacksonville has risen steadily in recent years — from 121 in 2021 to 208 in 2022, 287 in 2023 and 334 last year, Waters said.

“I have zero tolerance for anyone who wants to (harm) members of our community. If there is any question of where I stand, you know it now,” Waters said.