Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is praising the sweeping set of executive actions on immigration that President Donald Trump signed on his first day in office on Monday, saying they provide a “great road map” for Florida lawmakers to follow during a special legislative session the governor has called for next week in Tallahassee.
Among the actions Trump has now put forth are declaring migrant crossings along the U.S.- Mexico border a national emergency; requiring people seeking asylum to wait in Mexico while an immigration judge considers their cases; and a bar on asylum for people newly arrived at the southern border.
Additionally, Trump has shut down a program that allows migrants to make advance appointments with Customs and Border Protection, ordered the military to the border, and designated drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.
“I mean, man if you look at those executive orders, there’s a lot of really good ones but the immigration, this is really, really strong. And the president came out of the gate, very, very committed,” DeSantis told reporters Tuesday during a briefing at the state’s Emergency Operations Center in Tallahassee. “I’ve been saying that this was going to happen.”
DeSantis wants the Florida Legislature to convene in a special session on Jan. 27 to pass new state immigration laws to complement the federal government, as well to pass legislation changing the citizen-led initiative process, providing hurricane relief to residents and businesses, and addressing condominium safety regulations.
But his initial calls for the special session provoked a rare pushback for the DeSantis era, with Senate President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Daniel Perez saying last week that it was “premature” to do so.
However, the Florida Constitution allows the governor to make such a call independently, and lawmakers are scheduled to return to the Capitol on Monday for the special session. Responding to Albritton and Perez’s concerns that it would be “irresponsible” to get out ahead of Trump’s announcements, the governor’s office has now provided lawmakers with proposed bill language to address undocumented immigration and complicate the initiative petition process.
‘Every tool at our disposal’
Describing himself as “like a dog that’s gotcha on the ankle” when it comes to illegal immigration, DeSantis vowed he will not stand down on pushing lawmakers to move immediately to address the issue now, and not when the regular legislative session is scheduled to begin in early March.
“Look, if they want to go on the record and actually vote down good proposals, and then be held accountable by their constituents, that’s one thing. But we are not just going to sit idly by,” he said. “We are going to use every tool at our disposal to be able to get the job done.”
The governor went on to say that the Republican-controlled Legislature could opt to meet next week and decline to pass some or many of the bills that he wants to see addressed, but that they lack a political mandate to do that.
“They ran for an election — how many people won a Republican primary in the last six years saying that they were going to oppose the governor on the agenda? Zero did that. I can tell you because they asked for my picture to be in their literature. So, they ran saying, ‘We’re going to support the governor’s agenda’. That’s just the reality. So, I have a responsibility to lead on these issues.”
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