TALLAHASSEE, Fla.— Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is making one thing clear to the incoming Trump administration: We are here to help.
On Monday, DeSantis called his state’s Legislature into a special session to, in part, pass a sweeping immigration bill that will aim to align with executive orders Donald Trump is expected to sign shortly after he takes office on Jan. 20.
DeSantis said he has personally spoken to the president-elect about the policy ideas, and he and his staff have been briefed on some of the Trump's early immigration-focused proposals.
DeSantis has called the special session for the week of Jan. 27, a week after Trump is sworn in. That allows state legislators time to draft policy changes that complement the Trump administration's immigration policy.
“We will tailor what we are doing to mirror what their policies are going to be,” DeSantis told reporters.
Trump’s transition team has been preparing a series of executive orders for Day One of his administration. While they are expected to focus on wide range of issues, there is almost certainly going to be a heavy focus on immigration, one of his top campaign issues.
It will be “like nothing you’ve seen in history,” a Trump campaign official told NBC News in November.
Trump has not yet outlined specific changes he will seek by executive order, many of which are likely to face legal challenges, but has publicly focused on the idea of mass deportations and ending birthright citizenship.
DeSantis generally did not delve into specifics on what sort of details his team has received from the incoming administration. He did say that he anticipates that Trump is likely to expand the so-called 287(g) program, which allows U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to delegate to local officials authority to perform some functions generally reserved for federal immigration officials.
“I think what they are going to do with the Trump administration, I think it is going to be a more robust application of 287(g) than we have probably seen,” DeSantis said. “That will be good. Something that I think will make a meaningful difference.”
Under the current program, state and local governments can “opt in” to the program, but DeSantis hopes that Florida’s Republican-dominated Legislature will use his special session to make the program mandatory. Any final decision on language would come after Trump issues his executive orders.
“We are going to say sheriffs and municipalities are going to be part of 287(g),” he said.
The Florida Legislature, which would be responsible for drafting any specific legislation, has not yet filed any proposals, but DeSantis said he wants lawmakers to focus on strengthening the ability to punish local officials who do not follow federal immigration law, expand the ability of local law enforcement to carry out immigration policy and remove remaining “lingering incentives” that exist for undocumented immigration to come and stay in Florida.
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DeSantis did specifically call out a 2014 law that offers in-state tuition rates to undocumented immigration, a proposal signed into law by Rick Scott, a Republican who at the time was the state’s governor and is now a U.S. senator, and supported by DeSantis’ own lieutenant governor, Jeanette M. Nuñez.
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“In-state tuition, that is a benefit you are rewarding someone for being here illegally,” he said.
Florida Republicans have rebuffed recent legislative attempts to do away with the program.
State Rep. Randy Fine, who is a Trump-endorsed candidate running to replace Rep. Mike Waltz — whom Trump has picked to serve as his national security adviser — said he will again file legislation for the special session focused on ending in-state tuition for undocumented students, which costs the state $45 million annually.
“Governor DeSantis and I have had our differences, but one thing we have both wanted to do for years is end the $45 million in handouts for illegal immigrants that attend our world-renowned colleges and universities," said Fine, who backed Trump over DeSantis in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody — who is seen as the favorite for DeSantis to appoint to the Senate seat being vacated by Marco Rubio, who is nominated to serve as Trump’s secretary of state — backed DeSantis’ call for a sweeping immigration bill.
“Thank you @GovRonDeSantis for ensuring that the state is prepared to enact @RealDonaldTrump’s immigration priorities on DAY ONE,” she posted on X.
DeSantis has not publicly signaled his pick to fill Rubio’s seat, a move that must come before Trump is sworn in, but he has said that person will be a hard-liner on reforming the so-called H-1B visa program, which has become a subject of much internal fighting among Trump supporters in the wake of his election victory.
Prominent supporters like billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk have said they back the program — which is a feeder of lower-cost international talent for many companies — while the more populist, anti-immigration portion of Trump’s base, led by people like conservative pundits Steve Bannon and Laura Loomer, said they want the program abolished.
After weeks of internal fights amid MAGA adherents, Trump said in late December that he believes the program is “great.”
