TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WFLA) — Florida Senate and House leadership shut down the governor’s immigration proposals Monday, and instead, called for their own special session to take place the next day.

Passing out of the Senate 21-16 and out of the House 82-30, the new and “improved” bill now heads to Governor Ron DeSantis. There’s already speculation he might veto it after he continued to strike down the legislation calling it “weak.”

The new bill now includes mandatory death penalties, financial incentives for law enforcement, enhanced compliance requirements, sentencing enhancements for illegal immigrant gang members, and so on.

However, the same lawmakers who spoke out in opposition of the new bill, remain unimpressed even with the changes, echoing Governor DeSantis’ message that the TRUMP Act is not strong enough.

“It’s a facade, it’s a facade to the people of Florida. They’re trying, in the Florida House and the Senate, to look like they are doing something to address immigration, and they’re not,” said State Rep. Mike Caruso.

State Sen. Blaise Ingoglia added, “Everyone wants to fix the issue, the question is, what policies are right, what policies are most aggressive and what policies will then compliment what President Trump is doing at the federal level.”

Democrats, on the other hand, argue the most aggressive approach isn’t always the way to go, and continue to express concerns with both versions of the bill.
“The tension between the executive branch and the legislative branch has continued. We’ve seen a lot of online back and forth chatters, dueling statements being released and it doesn’t seem like Governor DeSantis is letting go,” said State Rep. Anna Eskamani.

Despite multiple immigration committee meetings and floor discussions, the governor still has the final say and could veto the legislation.