Round 2 on immigration

Ahead of 2020, Florida Republicans prepare for round 2 on immigration

By GARY FINEOUT

Florida Republicans are preparing to launch another contentious and emotional battle over immigration as the 2020 presidential election kicks into high gear next year.

State Sen. Joe Gruters, the Republican Party of Florida chairman who shepherded this year's legislative ban on sanctuary cities, a measure that became law this week, said Monday that he wants to require Florida businesses to use a federal immigration database to check whether their workers are in the country legally.

Gruters (R-Sarasota) made the announcement after a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border, where he filmed a campaign-style video paid for by his political committee. He and Rep. Cord Byrd (R-Neptune Beach), the House sponsor of the sanctuary city ban, plan to do a “statewide listening tour” on immigration in the next few weeks.

“We want to make sure we have the laws in place we need,” Gruters said. “We want to capitalize on the success we have had so far and we want to keep on going.”

The battle over the sanctuary city ban was one of the most bruising of this year's legislative session. The bill made it through the GOP-controlled Legislature only with prodding from Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The new law prohibits local governments from adopting policies to protect undocumented immigrants from deportation. Under the measure, undocumented immigrants could be detained for even minor legal violations and turned over to federal immigration enforcement if a detainer request is found for them.

President Donald Trump, who has taken a hard line against immigration during his first term, praised the passage of the Florida bill during his election kickoff last month in Orlando. The Florida measure was vigorously opposed by Democrats and immigrant rights groups.

Trump's anti-immigration platform has energized voters in Florida, a state the president will need to capture to win reelection. DeSantis won a tight race for governor last year after he said that he favored the mandate and attacked his Republican rival on the issue.

Now Gruters want to pass legislation to require Florida employers to use the federal E-Verify system to check the immigration status of new employees. An E-Verify bill proposed this past session would have exposed violators of the law to sanctions and investigations into their hiring practices.

Similar proposals in the past have run into a buzz saw of opposition from Republican-friendly groups such as the Florida Chamber of Commerce and the state’s powerful agriculture industry, which fear the potential economic impact.

Gruters said his push for another round of immigration legislation is necessary because Congress has failed to act. The state must enact “common-sense” changes for public safety, he said.

During the sanctuary city ban debate, he said his backing of the bill wasn’t political because 2019 wasn’t an election year. When it was pointed out his next bill will come months before the president is on the ballot, Gruters said immigration was his "number one priority”.

"We have to continue to push these issues," he said. "There’s never a good time."

Mike Fernandez, a Miami billionaire and former GOP donor, told The Miami Herald in March there was a “secret deal” cut this year to allow the sanctuary city bill to advance in exchange for scuttling E-Verify legislation. House Speaker Jose Oliva, a Miami Republican, denied the existence of any deal.

If there was a secret deal, it will be breached now. The Gruters proposal likely will prompt a high-profile legislative fight that will take place during the first round of presidential primaries.

Democrats and immigrant groups on Monday reacted quickly to Gruters’s plan to launch another immigration battle.

Thomas Kennedy, political director for the Florida Immigrant Coalition, called the proposal “inhumane” and said it would deny immigrants who need a “pathway to citizenship" of their livelihoods. He said the main reason for the legislation was to help Trump in next year’s presidential election.

“They are just to trying to push this Trumpian anti-immigration agenda to rile up the base ahead of the 2020 election,” Kennedy said.

Rep. Anna Eskamani, an Orlando Democrat, chastised Gruters for saying that he and Byrd were going to do a “listening” tour on immigration.

“At this point, both have lost the trust of directly impacted community members whose perspectives were completely ignored by them and their caucus during the 2019 legislation session,” Eskamani said. “I want to talk about immigration and pass meaningful policy, but these are not the two men who should be leading the conversation.”

In his statement, Gruters said that during his trip, he wasn't allowed to visit detention facilities near the border.

In response to questions Monday, he wouldn't say whether he plans to try to visit the Homestead detention center as part of his tour. The South Florida facility has become part of the debate over Trump’s hard-line immigration policy and several Democratic presidential candidates tried unsuccessfully to enter the site, where unaccompanied migrant children are housed.

Gruters, who called reports about conditions at detention centers disturbing, said vendors should face legal repercussions if they're getting paid $750 per day for each child and fail to properly care for them. But, he added: "It’s unfortunate, but it goes to back that we have a crisis.”