The Florida Legislature has passed a law that would require all law enforcement agencies to comply with requests from ICE and prevents any city or county from declaring itself a sanctuary area.
As a result, the ACLU has warned immigrants not to go into Florida. If only it was that simple, every state should declare itself sanctuary free. That wall all illegal aliens would move to California, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts and any other state where I wouldn’t want to live.
Florida Gov Ron DeSantis has supported the bill and says he will sign it into law.
The Florida Legislature passed a high-profile Republican bill on Thursday banning sanctuary policies that protect undocumented immigrants and requiring law enforcement officials to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
The bill passed the House on a 68-45 vote with Democrats opposed, shortly after it cleared the Senate by a 22-18 mostly party-line vote, as the Sarasota Herald-Tribunereported.
“We are a stronger state when we protect our residents, foster safe communities and respect the work of law enforcement at every level,” DeSantis, a Republican, said in a statement.
The legislation would require local officials to honor U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers for undocumented immigrants who are arrested or convicted of a crime, exempting crime victims and witnesses. It would ban local governments from enacting sanctuary policies to protect those immigrants from deportation and require them to notify ICE when an inmate subject to a detainer is released.
No Florida city or county currently has a sanctuary policy. But Republicans said it would ensure respect for federal immigration laws by preventing local and state officials from refusing to comply. Under the bill, the governor could suspend officials who defy immigration laws and they could be sued by the attorney general to force compliance.