The House Judiciary Committee yesterday approved the Florida Immigration Enforcement Act filed by state Rep. William Snyder, R-Stuart, while GOP senators filed two more immigration-enforcement bills.
The Senate’s Judiciary Committee, chaired by state Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, filed the Unauthorized Alien bill Wednesday, which would authorize the departments of Corrections and Law Enforcement and county sheriffs to enter into agreements with the Department of Homeland Security to train corrections personnel and local law enforcement officers to enforce federal immigration laws under the controversial Section 287(g) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.
The text of the bill also authorizes state prison personnel to check detainees’ fingerprints with federal databases to determine their immigration status. It also lays out how E-Verify would be implemented in Florida. The bill will be voted on next Monday.
State Sen. Greg Evers, R-Crestview, meanwhile, filed the immigration-enforcement bill “Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act,” a title reminiscent of Arizona’s highly controversial immigration enforcement bill.
The Senate summary says Evers’ bill requires local law enforcement officers to determine a person’s immigration status when there is reasonable suspicion that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States.
“It is the intent of the Legislature to make attrition through enforcement the public policy of all state and local governmental agencies,” according to the bill.
