On January 8, in an inauguration ceremony on the steps of the Old Capitol in Tallahassee, and with much pomp and fanfare, Republican former Congressman Ron DeSantis was sworn in as Florida’s 46th governor. His inaugural address, like many of his speeches on the campaign trail, promised real and sweeping improvements to the enforcement of immigration law in the Sunshine State. But now comes the hard part: actually turning those promises into reality.
Summing up his common-sense positions on immigration issues, then-candidate DeSantis tweeted back in July, “[t]here’s NOT going to be any sanctuary cities in Florida when I’m Governor!” and ”[c]heap foreign labor is not an excuse to let lawlessness prevail in the sunshine state. We want people who come LEGALLY!”
Bills are now filed in the state legislature to make good on those promises. He needs to publicly get behind them and push them to the hilt if he’s actually going to make it happen.
Getting rid of sanctuary cities wasn’t a hypothetical promise, since in a May 2018 survey, FAIR identified 15 sanctuary cities and counties in Florida. Since then at least one more, Orlando, has added itself to that number. Senate Bill (SB) 168, sponsored by Senator Joe Gruters (R-Sarasota), and House Bill (HB) 527, sponsored by Representative Cord Byrd (R- Jacksonville Beach), would ban sanctuary policies statewide, not just by cities and counties, but also by state agencies such as public universities. They would also allow victims to sue sanctuaries if harmed by illegal aliens due to their policies. And they would specifically say adopting such policies could be grounds for suspension of public officials by the governor.
As for ensuring Florida has a legal workforce, probably the most effective way to do that would be requiring every employer in the state to the use the federal E-Verify system, which instantly checks employees’ work authorization and is free to employers, employees, and the state. That’s exactly what House Bill (HB) 89 by Rep. Thad Altman(R-Melbourne/Indialantic) and SB 164 by Sen. Aaron Bean (R-Jacksonville/Fernandina Beach) would do.
Both as a candidate and now as governor, DeSantis outlined broad principles that are highly encouraging, but so far he hasn’t actually come out for these particular bills. So respectfully, the sooner, the better, Governor.
His support could mean all the difference. Hundreds of bills will be filed in advance of the legislature’s March 5-May 3 regular session, and lawmakers need to know he considers them priorities, ideally so they’re heard in committee meetings already happening in January and February. There will be plenty of opposition, of course, but far more bills simply die from inertia and inattention than from opposition.
Governor DeSantis made immigration enforcement a big part of his campaign. He can fulfill the promises he made. But he won’t be able to do it alone. Floridians need to keep their eyes on Tallahassee in the coming months, lend him their support, and keep the pressure on their legislators.
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Marco Rubio ran for the FL Senate seat in 2010 with a promise that he would never support an amnesty because he said it would only encourage more illegal entry. Once he got to the Senate he was part of the gang of 8 “bipartisan reform” bill, along with McCain, which would have given amnesty to every illegal here. Then when he ran for president in 2016 he was back on the no amnesty side, and he ended up dropping out early because no one believed a word he said.
It’s nauseating to listen to people talk about McCain like he was some paragon of virtue. Every time he had a primary opponent he talked tough on border enforcement and then once back in the Senate he was right back to emphasizing amnesty instead. Plus according to him every foreign war we were involved in was just supposed to have a never ending commitment of our troops. Not to mention his classless act in banning Sarah Palin from his funeral who was ever loyal to him, like her or not.
NBC never fails in the fake news dept. This morning on the Today show, Savannah Guthrie interviewed Nathan Phillips, the guy who confronted the Kentucky school boys. She said: “Some have said you were a Viet Nam veteran, I don’t believe you have said that”, to which he replied: “What I’ve always said is that I’ve never set foot in South Viet Nam”. But apparently Guthrie and NBC never bothered to check the numerous videos that have been online for days of him saying exactly that, including Jan 3, 2018: “I’m a Viet Nam vet”.
We Have No Reliable News Networks Anymore
Even FOX got bought up by OBP Disney recently and is losing its ratings too to NBC. If it wasn’t for the Tuckers and Hannity(s) on FOX [I hate that Sheppard Smith] we’d have no real support from FOX too..thank God for Rush Limbaugh too.
That’s why FAIRUS.ORG is sooooo important now. I stopped blogging on Numbersusa when I found out they were just another Sierra Club supporting OVERPOPULATION anyway. Horrifying Never Trumpers IOWs.
Well, it’s Put Up or Shut TF Up time for another Republican. Trump has done SQUAT on his principle campaign promise – to “Build That Wall!” so it’s more of the same. Florida, along with the Southeast in general, is a Low Wage state. Workers down here in Ol’ Dixie can’t afford to have their earning power further undermined by black market labor provided by illegal aliens. We know the so-called “hospitality industry” is a powerful political force not just around the Florida theme parks but wherever the local economy revolves around tourists and retirees. I’m spending the winter in Myrtle Beach, FL and I’m told that a Yuuge! number of locals are laid off until the restaurants, bars, motels, and other tourist business reopen in late February. There’s also agriculture here in SC and labor demand in that sector is slack for the next couple of months, too.