The House Select Committee on Illegal Immigration convened this week to discuss a bill that would massively change illegal immigration. Republicans want to "aggressively" respond to President Donald Trump's (R) call to crack down on illegal immigration, but Florida Rep. Fentrice Driskell (D) is sounding the alarm on the proposed immigration bill.
Lawmakers are currently deliberating HB 1-B, a proposed bill that would enact sweeping changes to how Florida addresses illegal immigration concerns. The bill would identify the Commissioner of Agriculture as the chief immigration officer, citing the vacuum left in the Attorney General's office after former Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) was appointed to the U.S. Senate.
Another change the bill would enact, and one that has become a topic of concern is the removal of in-state tuition eligibility for migrant children, which has drawn sharp criticism from Florida Democrats.
Florida Rep. Driskell expressed her opposition to the bill during a debate on the floor, emphasizing the potential unintended consequences for both local communities and Florida's economy.
“As I understand it, the local law enforcement grants are ‘first come, first serve,’ and there are a lot of local law enforcement agencies that don’t even have the resources to pursue the crime that they have to deal with now, so are we providing an unfunded mandate to them?” Driskell questioned, highlighting concerns about the bill’s potential strain on law enforcement budgets.
She also challenged the provision for eliminating in-state tuition for migrant children who have been part of Florida's educational system.
“The concept that we’ve got these students who have been in our school system and who are in our colleges, universities, where our state has made a significant investment in them in terms of allowing them to have in-state tuition, so that they can then turn around and become taxpayers that contribute to our own tax base is something that we need to talk about,” she argued
Florida Rep. Driskell further argued that immigration is fundamentally a federal issue, and she criticized the bill for dedicating substantial state resources to an issue she feels is better suited for federal solutions.
“It seems to me that we’re about to dedicate over half a billion dollars of Florida’s taxpayer dollars to this issue that really should be something that the federal government should be working on,” she commented, urging legislators to instead focus on issues like affordability, property insurance, and teacher and law enforcement pay.
