DeSantis Calls Special Immigration Term01/14 06:26

   

   TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is calling state 
lawmakers into a special session to help carry out President-elect Donald 
Trump's promises for a swift crackdown on immigration. But he's facing pushback 
from the legislature's Republican leaders, who have pledged their support for 
the incoming president but said a special session would be "premature" and 
"irresponsible."

   Trump is preparing more than 100 executive orders starting Day One of the 
new White House administration, in what amounts to a shock-and-awe campaign on 
border security, deportations and a rush of other policy priorities.

   While Trump and his advisers have pledged mass deportations, many questions 
remain about how they would deport anywhere close to the 11 million people 
estimated to be in the country illegally.

   DeSantis announced Monday he's scheduling the special session for the week 
of Jan. 27, the week after Trump is sworn in, so that state lawmakers will be 
poised to help implement the incoming president's policies immediately.

   "State and local officials in Florida must help the Trump administration 
enforce our nation's immigration laws," DeSantis said. "In order to do that 
effectively, we are going to need legislation to impose additional duties on 
local officials and provide funding for those local officials."

   The Republican governor said he's prepared to suspend elected officials from 
office if they are "neglecting their duties" under the new immigration 
mandates. DeSantis has removed multiple officials from office, including two 
state attorneys, arguing they were failing to prosecute certain crimes.

   DeSantis said he anticipates allocating tens of millions of dollars in new 
funding to help state and local officials expand their enforcement and 
detention efforts and said he would consider activating the Florida National 
Guard and the Florida State Guard to carry out in-state enforcement measures.

   "There also needs to be measures to hold people accountable who are 
violating our anti-sanctuary policies," he said. "Florida needs to make sure 
that we don't have any lingering incentives for people to come into our state 
illegally."

   In a strongly-worded joint statement released Monday afternoon, Senate 
President Ben Albritton and House Speaker Danny Perez said that without any 
specific guidance from the incoming administration and only "fragments of 
ideas" from the governor, it's too soon for lawmakers to hold a special session.

   "It is completely irresponsible to get out ahead of any announcements 
President Trump will make, especially when uninformed or ill-timed state action 
could potentially impair or impede the success of President Trump's forthcoming 
efforts to end illegal immigration," the Republican leaders said.

   While the governor can call a special session, Albritton and Perez said that 
"the Legislature, not the Governor, will decide when and what legislation we 
consider."

   It's a striking show of independence from Republican leadership in the 
state, where lawmakers in previous years worked in lockstep to help advance 
DeSantis' agenda as he ran for the Republican presidential nomination.

   Florida House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell told the AP she doesn't 
see a reason for holding a special session instead of addressing the issues 
during the regular legislative session, which begins March 4.

   "During special session, there's restricted ability for the public and 
stakeholders to have input, and this is a really big issue," Driskell said.

   DeSantis is also calling on Florida lawmakers to pass hurricane relief and 
work on reforms for the state's condominium market, which has seen rising 
prices following a safety law passed by state lawmakers in 2022 in the wake of 
the Surfside condominium building collapse, which killed 98 people in June 
2021. The governor also wants legislators to overhaul Florida's citizen ballot 
initiative process for proposing constitutional amendments, after alleging 
fraud in the petition drive that got a measure on the 2024 ballot that would 
have expanded abortion rights.

   The Senate President and House Speaker pledged to take up the issues during 
the upcoming regular session.

   Nikki Fried, chair of the Florida Democratic Party, criticized the governor 
for not calling for steps to address the state's stormy property insurance 
market or rising cost of living, saying the Republican Party prefers to "play 
politics instead of solving problems."

   In other states, Democratic governors are mounting a resistance movement 
against the incoming Trump administration, looking for ways to shield their 
states from potential federal policies restricting abortion and transgender 
rights, among other things. Some prominent Democratic governors, meanwhile, 
have taken a more conciliatory approach in an effort to forge a working 
relationship with the new administration.