Florida Republican lawmakers State Sen. Aaron Bean (R- District 4) and State Rep. John Snyder (R- District 82) filed companion bills to enhance Florida’s illegal immigration enforcement. The bill would expand an already existent ban on sanctuary cities, municipalities that protect illegal immigrants from immigration enforcement.
The bill would also prohibit state and local governments from contracting with transportation companies that have transported illegal aliens across state lines into Florida.
“We just cannot be doing contracts with companies that are knowingly and recklessly facilitating, bringing people here into our state illegally,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said in one of numerous speeches where he railed against the federal government’s handling of immigration.
Lawmakers came into this year’s legislative session, which began on Monday, with a number of hot-ticket social issues at the top of their priority list, prompted by DeSantis, and illegal immigration enforcement was one of them.
Last year, DeSantis penned a letter to Florida Department of Corrections Secretary Mark Inch to work with the governor’s office and pursue legal means to enhance Florida’s illegal alien crackdown.
“Florida will not sit by and watch idly as the federal government sets criminal aliens free and abdicates its legal obligation to enforce immigration law,” said DeSantis. “That’s why I’m calling on President Biden and ICE to take immediate action to detain and remove these dangerous criminal aliens. Too many lives have been lost because immigration officials failed to do their jobs and too many parents have lost children at the hands of criminal aliens who were irresponsibly set free.”
Also last year in December, DeSantis proposed approximately $8 million to be allocated in the Florida budget for transporting illegal immigrants out of Florida.
“In yesterday’s budget, I put in $8 million for us to be able to transport people here illegally out of the state of Florida,” DeSantis said in a press conference on December 13. “It’s somewhat tongue in cheek, but it is true, if you sent them to Delaware or Martha’s Vineyard or some of these places, that border would be secure the next day.”
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Grant Holcomb is a reporter at The Florida Capital Star and The Star News Network. Follow Grant on Twitter and direct message tips.
Photo “Aaron Bean” by Aaron P. Bean. Photo “John Snyder” by Florida House of Representatives. Background Photo “Florida State Capitol” by DXR. CC BY-SA 4.0.
