DeSantis recently signed into law a sweeping package of immigration reform that will help President Donald Trump carry out his mass deportation agenda.
Florida's new legislation mandates the death penalty for immigrants in the U.S. without legal authorization who commit capital offenses such as first-degree murder or child rape. It's a provision that goes above and beyond Trump's executive orders.
Ira Mehlman is media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform. He says the bill creates an infrastructure for immigration enforcement.
"Now that they have a partner in Washington, they are going to do their fullest to try to protect the people of Florida from illegal immigration. They're going to deputize the police in Florida to get the 287 G training."
The 287 G program is a four-week course at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Charleston, South Carolina. It covers immigration law, the use of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) databases, multicultural communication and the avoidance of racial profiling.
Officers must complete this training before receiving ICE immigration authority.
"That trains local law enforcement to identify people who are in the country illegally and detain them. You actually had to overcome some resistance from the Florida legislature that tried to protect the agricultural industry, but it seems to have overcome most of those obstacles,” Mehlman said.
Mehlman says while Florida's newly enacted immigration laws include most of what DeSantis wanted, they do not address remittances, expand the state's E-Verify law, or give the Governor the power to deport illegal aliens out of the country.
