DeSantis Calls Special Session Focused On Immigration Crackdown

TALLAHASSEE, FL — Gov. Ron DeSantis on Monday scheduled a special legislative session and urged state lawmakers to prepare for Florida to take the lead on revised immigration policies once President-elect Donald Trump is in office.

DeSantis called the special session for the week of Jan. 27, a week after Trump is sworn in for a second term on Jan. 20.

The governor said the special session will prepare Florida to spearhead the Trump Administration's deportation program, which The Associated Press reported is part of at least 100 Day One executive orders from the administration.

Trump's mass deportation plans include border security and could affect an estimated 11 million people who are deemed illegal immigrants in the U.S., the Associated Press reported.

DeSantis said state resources to impose the federal program include funding that will be allocated and support from state and local officials.

"We have no time to waste," DeSantis said in a statement. "Florida must lead."

“State and local officials in Florida must help the Trump administration enforce our nation’s immigration laws,” DeSantis said. “In order to do that effectively, we are going to need legislation to impose additional duties on local officials and provide funding for those local officials.”

The Republican governor said he's prepared to suspend elected officials from office if they are “neglecting their duties” under the new immigration mandates and that he would consider activating the Florida National Guard and the Florida State Guard to carry out in-state enforcement measures.

DeSantis said he anticipates allocating tens of millions of dollars in new funding to help state and local officials expand their enforcement and detention efforts.

“There also needs to be measures to hold people accountable who are violating our anti-sanctuary policies,” he said. “Florida needs to make sure that we don’t have any lingering incentives for people to come into our state illegally.”

In June 2019, DeSantis approved Senate Bill 168, which forbade sanctuary policies in Florida and permitted law-enforcement agencies "to transport an alien unlawfully present in the United States under certain circumstances," according to the legislation.

According to the governor, enforcing Trump's deportation program will assist with public safety. He anticipates the immigration policies to take effect the week Trump takes the presidential oath.

"This issue of the border and illegal immigration was one of the top issues in the 2024 election, and it's one of the top issues that we've had in this country for many, many years," DeSantis said.

Other issues that will be addressed during the special session are ballot initiative integrity, hurricane relief, disaster relief and condominium regulations, DeSantis said.

The governor is calling on Florida lawmakers to pass reforms for the state's condominium market, which has seen rising prices following a safety law passed by state lawmakers in 2022 in the wake of the Surfside collapse, which killed 98 people in June 2021.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.