Poor Desantis..
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In rare move, Florida Republicans defy DeSantis on immigration
Jan. 27, 2025 at 7:36 pm
By
Lori Rozsa
The Washington Post
In a rare show of bipartisan defiance of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), the Florida legislature on Monday rejected his call for new immigration laws, quickly ending a special session he had ordered without considering his proposals.
The GOP-led Florida House and Senate within 20 minutes ended the special session DeSantis had called to review several immigration proposals. Instead, state legislators then called their own special session, during which they debated a different immigration proposal and took the rare step of overriding one of DeSantis’s budget vetoes — a first in the governor’s six years in office.
It was a remarkable turn of events in Tallahassee, where, for most of his time in office, DeSantis has led the state agenda and received almost no pushback from fellow Republicans.
The actions came as Republican lawmakers, without naming DeSantis, said they resented being “bullied” into the special session. They also objected to the release of their personal phone numbers in a mass email to GOP voters last week that urged support for the governor’s plan.
DeSantis had announced the special session before President Donald Trump took office, saying it was necessary to get the state in line with the president’s plans to address illegal immigration and carry out mass deportations. He has said repeatedly in recent weeks that voters will hold GOP politicians to account if they don’t crack down on illegal immigration in the ways he wants to see.
But lawmakers brushed aside the implications that defying DeSantis meant they were disagreeing with Trump.
“I don’t need to get lectures on supporting Trump from Ron DeSantis,” state Sen. Randy Fine (R)said in an interview. “The last I checked a year ago, he didn’t think Trump should be president.”
DeSantis challenged Trump in the presidential primary but dropped out of the race last January after failing to win the Iowa caucuses.
Florida Senate President Ben Albritton, before he ended the DeSantis-called special session, said the state would follow Trump’s lead on immigration.
“President Trump is clearly leading from the Oval Office and has everything under control,” Albritton said.
Republican legislators also want to remove immigration enforcement powers from the governor’s office and instead hand that authority — along with $500 million — to the state’s agriculture commissioner, an elected official.
House and Senate leaders called DeSantis’s proposal “well intentioned” but said it introduced “unnecessary bureaucracy that hampers the critical collaboration between law enforcement and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.” They named their own proposal the “Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy,” or TRUMP, Act.
The Florida House and Senate also overrode DeSantis’s budget veto that cut nearly $60 million for state legislature support services.
DeSantis’s communications team did not return a request for comment, but the governor posted on X that he was glad the new bill “includes many of my proposals.” Still, he called it “a bait-and-switch tactic.”
“It is an insult to name such a weak bill after President Trump, who has been so strong on this issue,” DeSantis wrote.
He said that by placing enforcement authority in the agriculture department, “it ensures that enforcement never actually occurs. In short, it puts the fox in charge of the hen house.” DeSantis has clashed with state Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson in the past, cutting the department’s budget by millions of dollars. Simpson is reported to be considering a run for governor in 2026. DeSantis is term-limited from running again.
Aubrey Jewett, a political-science professor at the University of Central Florida, said Monday’s rebuke of DeSantis’s plan indicates that the governor’s power in Tallahassee is waning. DeSantis also wanted lawmakers to consider another new law in the special session that would put restrictions on how to collect petitions for ballot initiatives. Legislative leaders rejected that proposal, too, saying it could be brought up during the regular session.
Jewett said DeSantis has been one of Florida’s strongest governors in 50 years, using executive power aggressively. He has also reshaped much of the state government by making hundreds of appointments to judicial and other posts, along with amassing a huge fundraising war chest for his 2022 reelection and his presidential campaigns.
“This does suggest that DeSantis’s five-year run as a really powerful governor may be coming to an end,” Jewett said. “It’s not like Florida is going to take a sharp turn to the left or anything. But … I think it could be a new era in Florida politics.”
This story was originally published at washingtonpost.com. Read it here.
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