Florida House set to consider immigration measure

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - A House panel Thursday will take up a controversial proposal that would carry out a push by Gov. Ron DeSantis to increase immigration enforcement in the state. 

The House Criminal Justice & Public Safety Subcommittee will consider the proposal (HB 1355), sponsored by Rep. John Snyder, R-Stuart. It will be the first time the bill has been heard in the House. 

An identical Senate bill (SB 1808) drew sharp criticism from Democrats and immigrant-advocacy groups when it was heard last week in a Senate committee. 

The bills are similar to proposals that DeSantis announced in January during a news conference in Jacksonville. Perhaps the highest-profile part of the bill would penalize transportation companies that bring undocumented immigrants into the state. 

The proposal would bar the state and local governments from contracting with such companies "if the carrier is willfully providing any service in furtherance of transporting an unauthorized alien into the State of Florida knowing that the unauthorized alien entered into or remains in the United States in violation of the law." 

The bill also would require counties to enter agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to participate in a program in which local law enforcement officers help in immigration enforcement. A Senate staff analysis said 49 Florida law-enforcement agencies already have such agreements. In addition, the bill would expand a 2019 law that sought to ban so-called sanctuary cities.

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