(The Center Square) — Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday he is calling a special session of the Legislature to require local governments to enforce potential deportations of undocumented migrants if called for by President-elect Donald Trump.
The special session, starting Jan. 27, will also deal with the state’s ballot initiative process, hurricane relief, election integrity and condominium regulation, among other issues. Trump has pledged a number of actions from the first day forward; his inauguration is Jan. 20.
The second-term Republican governor says he’ll issue executive orders related to immigration on Jan. 20. He says he doesn’t want the state “twiddling its thumbs” when it comes to helping the Trump administration with its “most significant initiative.”
“We have a responsibility to be in this fight,” DeSantis said. “State and local officials in Florida must help the Trump administration enforce our nation’s immigration law. We are going to need legislation to impose additional duties and provide funding for those local officials.
“There also needs to be measures to hold people accountable. We need to act, and we need to act quickly. The American people spoke very clearly.”
DeSantis mentioned that of the 45 looters arrested in Pinellas County after Hurricane Milton made landfall, 40 of them were in the country without authorization.
“I’m just thinking to myself, how the hell is this happening here?” DeSantis said. “Give me a break. Those people need to be sent back immediately. So this will end up helping the overall situation.”
DeSantis also said he wants lawmakers to eliminate a state law that gives in-state tuition for undocumented migrants, which was signed into law by then-Gov. Rick Scott in 2014.
Florida was struck by three hurricanes – Debby, Helene and Milton – in 66 days in 2024 and the governor wants agricultural aid and more funding for the My Florida Home program, which provides grants for homeowners to fortify their houses against future storms.
As for condominium relief, many homeowners’ associations are unhappy with expensive assessments needed to carry state-mandated inspections and repairs in the wake of the 2021 Surfside disaster, where a condominium building collapsed due to a structural failure.
DeSantis says he wants the Legislature to tackle the issue to provide relief for homeowners, many of whom are retired and on fixed incomes. The governor and the state Senate have conducted roundtables statewide soliciting comments from homeowners on how to deal with the issue.
“We’re now seeing, some problems that I think were unintended, that have popped up, and we have a responsibility to act to make sure that people can stay in their condo units,” DeSantis said. “The Legislature should not be doing anything that’s going to cause someone to have to flee because of an artificial mandate, and so I think it was a good faith effort.”
