Led by its Republican supermajority, Florida’s state legislature gaveled in for a special session last Monday and managed to pass an immigration bill that aims to help President Donald Trump make good on his agenda.
As The Skinny host Mitch Perry reported, “The plan includes boosting criminal penalties for undocumented immigrants, ending in-state tuition rates for undocumented-immigrant students and creating a state ‘chief immigration officer’ within the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.”
The bill, however, was trashed by Gov. DeSantis, who vowed to veto the bill when it eventually gets sent to his desk.
Sen. Joe Gruters, a Sarasota Republican who sponsored the bill, said he’s holding up just fine in the aftermath.
“All is good from my standpoint.” Grueters told WMNF, pointing to proposed penalties outlined in an immigration bill passed during the session. “This bill is 100% to help Donald Trump in his mission.”
Still, Grueters is unsure if the Florida Senate will be able to override DeSantis’ veto. “I don’t know exactly what will happen,” he added.
Grueters, however, knows the GOP will do what it has to do to advance its conservative agenda. “Families have squabbles, but I am confident we will come back together,” he added.
Miami Rep. Ashley Gant, an attorney who practiced immigration law, also joined us on-air to discuss the immigration bill passed by her Republican colleagues.
She said immigration is a federal issue, and lamented the bill’s half-a-billion-dollar price tag.
“The fact of the matter is that we can work in tandem with the federal government, but a lot of the things we saw in the bill are tantamount to scare tactics,” Gant, who voted against the bill, added. “The bill was a lot of duplication of what already exists.”
She said the quarrel between state Republicans is none of her business and said she’s more interested in working for elderly constituents making tough financial decisions, or others trying to navigate the housing crisis.
Gant, a self-described “eternal optimist,” is heartened to see the legislature start to become more independent. “Now we can represent the people instead of being an arm or extension of the governor’s office,” she added.
Other guests on the program included Grace VanHooser, a J.D. Candidate at Florida International University College of Law, who discussed her work on immigration rights.
To close out the show, Brad Ashwell, All Voting is Local’s Florida State Director, joined in to help set the table for an upcoming fight over changes to how citizens can get constitutional amendments on the ballot.
Listen to the show via Apple Music, TuneIn, and Spotify.
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