Governor DeSantis Proposes Sweeping New Policies to Combat Illegal Immigration in Florida

On Thursday, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) announced new efforts to combat illegal immigration in his state which has become a pressing issue in recent years as the Biden administration has refused to enforce American law and secure the southern border allowing illegal migrants to travel to Florida undeterred.

“Florida will not turn a blind eye to the dangers of Biden’s Border Crisis,” the governor wrote in a tweet. “We are proposing additional steps to protect Floridians from these reckless federal policies, including mandatory E-Verify and prohibiting local government from issuing ID cards to illegal aliens.”

According to Customs and Border Protection, encounters by border patrol agents in January reached 156,274 across all sectors while it was at 251,978 in December. With migrant encounters still consistently in the hundreds of thousands every month, governors need to take action to protect American citizens.

Governor DeSantis’ proposal to do just that is a three-pronged approach to combatting the flow of illegal immigration into the state.

The first prong of the governor’s plan is to enhance penalties for human smuggling. This would make it a 3rd-degree felony to “knowingly transport, conceal, or harbor illegal aliens” thus resulting in a five-year prison sentence. If a smuggler was transporting a minor that sentence would be increased to 15 years. In both cases, these individuals will not be released from jail until they at least appear in front of a judge.

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The second priority for the governor is to expand E-verify requirements for employers in the Sunshine State. The proposed legislation would require all employers to use E-verify to determine if a potential employee is eligible. If an employer were to violate this requirement twice within two years, that would result in “license revocation.” Lastly, if a potential employee attempts to produce false identification for the sake of passing E-verify, that would result in a felony charge.

The third pillar of DeSantis’ plan is to disincentivize illegal immigration to Florida. The proposal would ban local governments from issuing ID cards to illegal migrants and it would make out-of-state ID cards for illegal migrants useless in the state. Secondly, it would require a citizenship check during voter registration. It would also require hospitals from collecting the immigration status of patients and submit regular reports on how much taxpayer money is being spent on caring for illegal migrants’ medical care.

The proposed legislation would also prohibit out-of-state tuition waivers at colleges and universities, it would bar migrants from practicing law in Florida, and the legislation would close loopholes that previously allowed migrants to get out of the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

With the Florida legislative session beginning next month, Governor DeSantis has a sweeping list of priorities to attend to with migration clearly being a big part of his legislative to-do list. With President Biden continuing to ignore the border crisis, it is up to governors like Ron DeSantis to take action and luckily for Floridians, he is taking his responsibility to protect the citizens of Florida seriously.

Florida will not turn a blind eye to the dangers of Biden’s Border Crisis.

We are proposing additional steps to protect Floridians from these reckless federal policies, including mandatory E-Verify and prohibiting local government from issuing ID cards to illegal aliens. pic.twitter.com/tdrZ0Jw2wY

— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) February 23, 2023

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