{"id":4243,"date":"2025-02-18T00:04:38","date_gmt":"2025-02-18T00:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/florida-cracks-down-on-undocumented-immigrants-justia-news-february-17-2025\/"},"modified":"2025-02-18T00:04:38","modified_gmt":"2025-02-18T00:04:38","slug":"florida-cracks-down-on-undocumented-immigrants-justia-news-february-17-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/florida-cracks-down-on-undocumented-immigrants-justia-news-february-17-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Cracks Down on Undocumented Immigrants \u2014 Justia News \u2014 February 17, 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p data-sourcepos=\"5:1-5:733\"><span class=\"citation-0 recitation citation-end-0\">Last week, Florida <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2025\/02\/13\/nx-s1-5294991\/trump-deportations-florida-desantis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">enacted new laws<\/a> involving immigration. Supporters claim that they\u2019re among the nation\u2019s strictest.<\/span> <span class=\"citation-2 recitation citation-end-2\">The laws establish a state immigration enforcement board, require local cooperation with federal immigration officials, and impose enhanced penalties on undocumented immigrants who commit crimes.<\/span> These include a mandatory death penalty for capital offenses. Entering Florida as an undocumented immigrant is now a misdemeanor for the first offense and a felony for subsequent offenses.<span class=\"button-container hide-from-message-actions ng-star-inserted\"> <span class=\"citation-3 recitation citation-end-3\">A previous law allowing undocumented students to pay in-state tuition at public universities has been repealed.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-sourcepos=\"7:1-7:444\"><span class=\"citation-4 recitation citation-end-4\">Republican sponsors worked with the Trump administration on these measures. They also provide funds for law enforcement training and equipment, <span class=\"citation-5 recitation citation-end-5\">offer bonuses to officers participating in ICE operations, and <\/span>authorize more beds for detained foreign nationals awaiting removal<\/span><span class=\"citation-5 recitation citation-end-5\">.<\/span> Governor DeSantis stated that Florida will be \u201csafer and more secure\u201d because of the new laws.<\/p>\n<p data-sourcepos=\"7:1-7:444\"><span class=\"citation-6 recitation citation-end-6\">This action aligns Florida with other states looking to increase their involvement in immigration enforcement, traditionally a federal domain.<\/span> <span class=\"citation-7 recitation citation-end-7\">(Another recent example is Tennessee.)<\/span>\u00a0DeSantis has stated that Trump\u2019s proposed mass deportations would require state resources.<\/p>\n<p data-sourcepos=\"11:1-11:235\"><span class=\"citation-10 recitation citation-end-10\">The legislation\u2019s passage followed a month of political disagreement within the Republican party in Florida.<\/span> <span class=\"citation-11 recitation citation-end-11\">DeSantis had initially called for a special session to consider a more expansive bill, but lawmakers resisted.<\/span> <span class=\"citation-12 recitation citation-end-12\">A compromise was eventually reached, creating the State Board of Immigration Enforcement, composed of the governor, the agriculture commissioner, and two other officials. All of their decisions require unanimous agreement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-sourcepos=\"13:1-13:487\"><span class=\"citation-14 recitation citation-end-14\">Democrats argue that various parts of the new laws are unconstitutional, such as the mandatory death penalty provision and the criminalization of entry by undocumented immigrants. <\/span><span class=\"citation-15 recitation citation-end-15\">They predict legal challenges and feel that fighting them will waste taxpayer funds.<\/span> <span class=\"citation-16 recitation citation-end-16\">Democrats also opposed the repeal of in-state tuition for undocumented students.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-sourcepos=\"13:1-13:487\">These measures may have a wide-ranging impact, from increased local involvement in immigration enforcement to potential legal battles over their constitutionality. The coming months and years will likely see them tested in court. Their ultimate fate will not only shape Florida\u2019s policies but potentially influence the national debate on immigration.<\/p>\n<p data-sourcepos=\"13:1-13:487\"><strong>Photo Credit: Moab Republic \/ Shutterstock.com<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>(function(d, s, id) {\n            var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n            if (d.getElementById(id)) return;\n            js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\n            js.src=\"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.11&appId=1639788792774312&autoLogAppEvents=1\";\n            fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n        }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week, Florida enacted new laws involving immigration. Supporters claim that they\u2019re among the nation\u2019s strictest. The laws establish a state immigration enforcement board, require local cooperation with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4244,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4696,4522,703,4478,309,310,4697],"class_list":["post-4243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-cracks","tag-february","tag-florida","tag-immigrants","tag-justia","tag-news","tag-undocumented"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}