TAMPA, FL—A top Republican Lawmaker wants to file a bill mimicking a Texas law allowing state officials to arrest and deport illegal immigrants, a job that critics say is solely for the federal government.
"I think the state of Florida should take up and pass the same law that Texas did," Senator Blaise Ingoglia, a former GOP Chairman, told The Floridian. "[It allows] Texas officials to basically do the job of the federal government—which they are not doing—in terms of arresting illegal immigrants and then just sending them back over the border,"
"I think it's a must that the state of Florida does that," he added.
Ingoglia told The Floridian Publisher Javier Manjarres that he will file deportation legislation in the 2025 legislative session.
The 2023 Texas law imposes a second-degree misdemeanor for illegally crossing the Rio Grande, and a second-degree felony for doing it again. Once they have served their sentence, police must transport them to a port of entry for deportation.
However, the charges can be fully dropped if the migrant agrees to return to Mexico.
Immigration advocacy groups and the Department of Justice have challenged the law in federal court, arguing that the law encroaches on the federal government’s sole authority over immigration and will lead to racial profiling by police, The Texas Tribune reported.
JUST IN— FL Senator @GovGoneWild say he'll file legislation to allow Florida to deport illegal aliens
"[It allows] Texas officials to basically do the job of the federal government—which they are not doing—in terms of arresting illegal immigrants and then just sending them back… pic.twitter.com/MQnjp0WQT7
— The Floridian (@Floridianpress) April 15, 2024
Though the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Texas can enforce the law, a federal appeals court blocked it from being enforced ahead of a hearing in the lawsuit from the federal government and immigrant rights advocates.
Texas officials—and Senator Ingoglia—argue that states must step in because the federal government isn't "doing its job."
"I'm in favor of doing everything that we possibly can to continue creating deterrents so that illegal immigrants do not settle in the state of Florida," said Ingoglia, who has sponsored a series of anti-illegal immigration bills over the past year.
He then addressed President Joe Biden's announcement that he is "looking into" shutting down the border via executive action, a move former President Donald Trump discussed doing during his tenure in office.
"I think Joe Biden is actually getting to the point where he's starting to realize—albeit four years into it—that he cannot continue the status quo, and that his policies have ultimately failed the American people because every state, every community, every city is now a border state," Ingoglia said.
"I think it's a tacit admission that his policies are just absolutely wrong and Trump's policies were right."
