Another Florida agency says GOP state legislature not being honest about ‘weak’ immigration bill

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) is not the only state official who is speaking out against the immigration bill the GOP leadership in the statehouse is trying to push by using President Donald Trump’s name.

The leadership for the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles explained why the legislature’s bill handcuffs their enforcement efforts, in contrast to DeSantis’ proposals, and said that the GOP leadership did not consult them when drafting the legislation.

FLHSMV said Executive Director Dave Kerner and Colonel Gary Howze, colonel of the Florida Highway Patrol, asked lawmakers for changes to be made to their bill because it had “provisions that limited communication and coordination between state and local law enforcement agencies and federal partners, but this did not occur.”

‘This is a betrayal of the voters.’

“The legislature’s bill does not consider critical operational needs that support law enforcement. Unfortunately, the legislature did not coordinate or communicate with our law enforcement agency while drafting their bill,” FLHSMV said.

“This [bill] would take [away] our ability to interact with DEA, ICE, what have you, and that full spectrum of federal law enforcement, and we would have to go through an additional layer of an agency, through the office of immigration enforcement,” Kerner told lawmakers on Monday. “This language is very limiting.”

Among the many examples of the bill being soft on illegal immigration, the chief immigration enforcement officer would be the commissioner of agriculture. DeSantis says it does not make sense to add that to the commissioner’s responsibilities when there are stakeholders within the industry who take advantage of illegal immigrant labor.

The statement from FLHSMV leadership calls into question a mass text message sent on Republican Florida Senate President Ben Albritton’s behalf, which says the Republican legislature “worked with law enforcement [and] the White House to pass the TRUMP Act.”

DeSantis has been making the case across the state to explain to voters why the legislature’s version of the proposals he sent to them before the special session is not only “very weak” but “destructive.” DeSantis revealed on Thursday that the speaker of the House did not respond to his offers to discuss the proposals before the session was convened.

“There is no justification for doing this if you actually want to enhance enforcement. The purpose of the provision is to stop enforcement. It weakens current law and practice significantly. Florida becomes a de facto sanctuary state. This is a betrayal of the voters,” DeSantis said about limiting state police interaction with federal agencies.

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