Florida Sen. Nacy Detert, R-Venice, filed this week the “Florida Security and Immigration Compliance Act,” another bill that extends the push by Republican legislators to make enforcement through attrition a reality in Florida.
The act
prohibits [state] agencies from entering into a contract for contractual services with contractors that are not registered and participating by a specified date in a federal work-authorization program. Provides procedures with respect to verification of eligibility for benefits, etc.
It would also require the appropriate agencies to verify the immigration status of anybody 18 years of age or older applying for state or local public benefits, and require the Chief of Domestic Security to “negotiate the terms of a memorandum of understanding between the state and certain Federal Government entities concerning the enforcement of federal immigration and customs laws.”
The federal immigration program Section 287(g), already in place in several Florida counties, requires a memorandum of agreement between local law enforcement and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The text of this proposal provides for local law enforcement to receive federally funded training to enforce federal immigration law and would allow for the detention and removal of someone not lawfully in the U.S. It prompts the Florida Sheriffs Association to “prepare and issue guidelines and procedures for compliance” with provisions that deal with detention and determination of lawful immigration status.
