Miami, United States. – The Florida Senate Assignments Committee approved the bill this Wednesday SB 2Cpromoted by Senator Joe Gruters, who increases the penalties for crimes committed by undocumented immigrants. The vote was made after a three -hour debate in which Democrats and Republicans confronted positions, according to The medium report Florida Politics.
The bill arises as a commitment between the governor Ron desantis and the legislature, after disputes about who should direct the migratory efforts of the State. In this week’s special session, it was proposed that instead of a single official in charge, the responsibility is shared between Desantis, the Wilton Simpson Agriculture Commissioner, the Attorney General, the Financial Director and some Sheriffs and selected police chiefs, who must make decisions unanimously.
One of the most controversial points of the project is the elimination of the state registration fee for the 6,500 undocumented immigrants currently studying in Public Universities in Florida. “Remove the state registration, and I would vote in favor,” said Senate Democratic leader Jason Pizzo, during the debate.
Republican senator Randy Fine defended the measure stating: “I’m sorry for them, but their parents did. These children did not appear magically in the United States. His parents chose to violate the law. ”
For his part, Democratic Senator Carlos Guillermo Smith criticized that the legislation does not address the problem of employers who hire undocumented workers. “This legislation is not serious about the fight against illegal immigration. We do not need to spend hundreds of millions of taxpayers to double what the federal government is already doing, ”he argued.
Kara Gross, legislative director of the Florida section of the ACLU, warned about the negative impact that the law could have. “Due to the color of their skin or their accent, they are the objective of these policies. That is what this rhetoric does, it seems that these people are illegal when they are simply here. They have been in the state for 10, 20 or 30 years, ”he denounced.
The Republicans defended the measure aligning with the immigration policy of President Donald Trump. “It is a crime to cross the border unauthorized. That is a federal crime, ”said Senator Fine.
Governor Desantis had promised to veto a previous version of the project granted by the authority on state immigration to Wilton Simpson, but with the new agreement the project is expected to advance in its way to become law.
