In 2014, lawmakers in the Republican-controlled Legislature gave children who were in the country without authorization in-state tuition at public colleges. A year earlier, the conservative state House voted to grant driver’s licenses to immigrants in the country illegally, although the governor ultimately rejected that policy.
But as the national political pendulum swings, so does the country’s largest presidential battleground state.
Florida is set to adopt one of the strictest laws in the nation against so-called sanctuary cities and counties. The legislation, expected to be approved by the state Senate as early as Friday, would require local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration authorities and penalize officials who fail to do so.
At play in Florida are Republican base politics under President Donald Trump and the state’s new governor, Ron DeSantis, who ran as a Trump ally and staunch opponent of sanctuary cities even though most analysts agree Florida does not have any.
The law would require local governments to use their “best efforts” to support federal immigration law, including complying with requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement to jail immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally until ICE is able to pick them up. Any officials who violated the law could be suspended or removed from office — or, in the House version of the bill, fined up to $5,000 a day.
“This is about public safety,” said Sen. Joe Gruters of Sarasota, the bill’s sponsor in the Senate and the chairman of the state Republican Party.
At stake, opponents say, are not just the civil liberties of immigrants but also Florida’s thriving economy and its identity as a melting pot that welcomes outsiders. About 20 percent of Florida’s population is foreign-born, although that share is far higher, 53 percent, in Miami and Orlando.
The Florida bill appears based on a Texas law passed two years ago.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.