TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Gov. Ron DeSantis suffered a stunning defeat courtesy of his own party Monday as the Legislature refused to hold a special session dealing with immigration and ballot initiatives that he forced on their chambers, instead quickly gaveling out.
But the lawmakers didn’t head home. Instead, they pivoted to hold their own special session — where they instead have come up with their own measure on illegal immigration that has distinct changes from what DeSantis first recommended. The separate bill is named after President Donald Trump, who is moving ahead with a mass deportation plan that DeSantis said legislators needed to aid.
The bill does include more than $500 million to help state and local authorities deal with illegal immigration and would increase penalties against undocumented immigrants who vote illegally. It would repeal a provision that allows children of undocumented immigrants whose parents brought them to the U.S. as children to get in-state tuition. Finally, it would create a role of “immigration czar” in the state that DeSantis asked for. But instead of falling under the governor’s office, it would make Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson Florida’s chief immigration officer.
Simpson is a former Senate president that DeSantis previously humiliated by making him stand onstage while he vetoed $510 million from the budget whose passage he oversaw. Simpson is widely viewed as a potential candidate for governor in 2026.
DeSantis, in his social media post, questioned the legality of shifting this power to Simpson, while also suggesting that giving enforcement power to someone who represents the agricultural industry “puts the fox in charge of the hen house.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/01/27/florida-legislature-defies-desantis-00200715
