DeSantis seeks Trump’s input in fight with Florida Legislature over immigration
In a private call with a group of supporters on Monday night, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he talked to President Donald Trump and his advisors as he tries to get support for his version of a state immigration proposal over a dueling proposal put forward by Republican legislative leaders, according to an audio recording obtained by the Herald/Times.
“I spoke with the president today, and I told him I am working on this and we want to be helpful and he was basically, ‘I want as strong as possible, as strong as possible,’” DeSantis told supporters in the call. “Well, clearly, the governor’s proposals are much stronger than what the Legislature proposed.”
DeSantis said he also talked to Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan.
A White House spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.
The governor’s conversations with the White House underscore the lengths to which DeSantis is going to knock down a legislative proposal that would undercut his ability to control the state’s immigration enforcement efforts.
The proposal — pushed by House Speaker Daniel Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton — would transfer much of the governor’s immigration oversight authority to Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, a Republican statewide elected official.
DeSantis told supporters in the call that Homan told him: “Don’t give it to agriculture.”
Perez and Albritton dubbed their proposal the “Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy (TRUMP) Act” and said it is designed to help carry out Trump’s immigration agenda. The proposal, among other things, includes millions in funding to help local law enforcement officers get the training they need to support federal immigration agents and make it financially viable for local and state law enforcement agencies to share detention beds with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Albritton said some of DeSantis’ immigration proposals, such as criminally charging local police who don’t cooperate, were potentially unconstitutional and had nothing to do with Trump’s agenda.
“Sometimes leadership isn’t about being out in front of an issue,” Albritton told state senators on Monday morning. “It’s about following the leader you trust. I trust President Trump.”
In the call Monday night, DeSantis told supporters to call their state representatives and state senators, particularly if they are Republican, and “let them know what your preference is on this.”
“You can email them. You can call them. You know there are different ways to do this,” DeSantis said. “We have a chance to really make a difference, but what the Legislature proposed is not going to get us there.”