TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is calling state lawmakers into a special session to help implement President-elect Donald Trump’s promises for a swift crackdown on immigration.
Trump has been preparing more than a hundred executive orders from day one of the new White House administration, amounting to a shock-and-awe campaign on border security, deportations and a flurry of other policy priorities.
While Trump and his advisers have pledged mass deportations, many questions remain about how they would deport anywhere near the 11 million people estimated to be in the country illegally.
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DeSantis announced Monday that he is scheduling the special session for the week of Jan. 27, the week after Trump is sworn in, so state lawmakers will be ready to help implement the new president’s policies immediately.
“State and local officials in Florida must assist the Trump administration in enforcing our nation’s immigration laws,” DeSantis said. “To do that effectively, we need legislation that imposes additional duties on local officials and provides funding to local officials.”
The Republican governor said he is willing to suspend elected officials from office if they “neglect their duties” under the new immigration mandates and that he would consider calling in the Florida National Guard and the Florida State Guard to conduct enforcement actions in the state to feed. DeSantis said he expects to allocate tens of millions of dollars in new funding to help state and local officials expand their enforcement and detention efforts.
“There must also be measures to hold accountable people who violate our anti-sanctuary policies,” he said. “Florida must ensure that we do not have continued incentives for people to enter our state illegally.”
DeSantis is also calling on Florida lawmakers to approve hurricane relief and work on reforms for the state’s condominium market, where prices have risen due to a safety law passed by state lawmakers in 2022 in the wake of the Surfside collapse , which killed 98 people in June. 2021. The governor also wants lawmakers to overhaul Florida’s citizen voting process to propose constitutional amendments, after claiming a 2024 measure that would have expanded abortion rights was plagued by fraud.
___ Kate Payne is a staff member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
