Florida CFO Proposes Legislation to Curb Illegal Immigration

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In Tallahassee, Florida’s Chief Financial Officer, Blaise Ingoglia, has introduced a slate of eight legislative proposals aimed at curbing illegal immigration and holding offenders accountable. This move comes amid ongoing criticism from Democrats who argue that the state’s current emergency status on immigration is an overreach by the governor, undermining the seriousness of emergency powers.

As Florida gears up for its upcoming legislative session, the debate between Republicans and Democrats over illegal immigration remains heated. Republicans view it as a pressing state issue requiring immediate attention, while Democrats argue it falls under federal jurisdiction.

In a related legal battle, CAIR-Florida has filed a lawsuit challenging Governor DeSantis’ order on terrorism, seeking a judicial declaration of its unconstitutionality.

“We are technically still in a state of emergency, which means the state should leverage all available resources to eradicate criminal illegal aliens from our communities,” Ingoglia stated. He has partnered with Republican lawmakers in both the House and Senate to push these immigration-related proposals through the legislative process.

The CFO’s proposed legislation:

Forces illegal immigrants’ insurance companies to accept fault if an illegal immigrant is involved in a car accident in Florida.
Prohibits all commercial driving license pre-licensing instruction, testing, and licensing procedures from being given in any other language than English.
Removes illegal immigrants as covered employees in the Workers’ Compensation statute.
Forces any company that hires illegal immigrants to pay out-of-pocket for any injuries.
Requires companies to use E-Verify to submit a Worker’s Compensation claim.
Prohibits illegal immigrants from receiving any license issued by the Department of Financial Services.
Stops illegal immigrants IDs from being used to create bank accounts with a state chartered financial institution and for cashier’s checks.
Bans illegal immigrants from benefitting from Down Payment Assistance programs and silent second home mortgage programs.

“What I did not know, and amazingly so, that there are some insurance companies that not only market auto insurance to illegal immigrants, but they write, and they underwrite the policies for them. I think that that’s wrong,” Ingoglia said.

This comes as state Democrats are hoping to reign in Governor DeSantis’ oversight, saying he is abusing his emergency powers by continuing to extend the state’s 2023 executive order for illegal immigration.

“I think the definition of ’emergency’ means it’s urgent. I think if we have a problem with immigration in Florida, it should be done on a policy basis,” said State Senator Lori Berman (D-Boca Raton).

But as Democrats pushback on new policy, like State Representative Berny Jacques’ E-Verify bill, illegal immigration legislation continues to advance inside the statehouse

Ingoglia said he thinks in order to stay ahead of any resistance, there should be a new updated illegal immigration bill package every year.