ORLANDO, Fla. – The Republican-controlled Florida Legislature passed a bill Tuesday night aimed at curbing illegal immigration, sending the package to the desk of Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has derided the proposal for days.
One day after legislators gaveled out of a special session that had been called by DeSantis, Florida’s state Senate and House shepherded through an immigration package that served as the sole focus of their own special session.
“We have passed the most conservative, the most aggressive, and the most effective immigration bill in the country,” Daniel Perez, the Republican Speaker of the Florida House of Representative, said, addressing the House after the TRUMP (Tackling & Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy) Act passed the chamber by a 82-30 margin.
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Earlier Tuesday evening, the state Senate voted 21-16 in favor of the package.
Around the same time that legislators were advancing the bill, DeSantis appeared on Fox News for the second consecutive night—this time with host Laura Ingraham of “The Ingraham Angle.”
“And now Republicans are part of the problem?” Ingraham asked, introducing the governor. “Explain.”
DeSantis responded by explaining how he called for a special session to start Monday, but that Republican state lawmakers objected to the idea as “premature.”
“They got really negative feedback,” DeSantis told Ingraham. “So they came out with a bill that they unveiled yesterday that gutted all the enforcement I was calling for.”
Speaking to a largely sympathetic Ingraham, DeSantis accused Republican leaders in his state of “squishing out” and supporting a “weak bill.”
The comments mirrored those DeSantis has made over the last two days on X, as well as on conservative platforms.
On X Tuesday afternoon, Speaker Perez posted a memorandum that he and Senate President Ben Albritton sent to legislators. The memo highlighted “enhancements” made to the TRUMP Act, including mandating the death penalty for all undocumented immigrants convicted of a capital offense, including murder or rape of a child.
In the post accompanying the memo, Perez wrote that they received “technical assistance from the White House.”
Among the provisions of the bill garnering the most attention is the repeal of in-state tuition rates for undocumented immigrants.
The provision would scrap a 2014 law that offers undocumented immigrants out-of-state tuition waivers to allow them to pay in-state tuition rates.
About 250 miles from Tallahassee, a dozen high school and college students gathered inside the Hope Community Center in Apopka to highlight the potential implications of repealing the law.
“Repealing in-state tuition is a step in the wrong direction,” said a young woman who identified herself just as Edith.
Wearing caps and gowns during a mock graduation event, students spoke about their status as “Dreamers”—or undocumented immigrants who are beneficiaries of DACA (the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program).
“In-state tuition is not an incentive for migration,” said Silvia Ruiz, who has benefited from the waiver. “It is a policy that is adapting to the ever-changing Florida.”
DeSantis has not yet said whether he will veto the bill, but he had previously advocated for many of the proposals included in the current iteration of the bill, including the repeal of the in-state tuition law.
Before adjourning Tuesday night, Speaker Perez made thinly-veiled comments ridiculing DeSantis—without mentioning the governor’s name.
“Threatening others to get your way isn’t leadership,” Perez said. “It’s immaturity.”
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