Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signed three bills on Friday designed to increase penalties for illegal immigrants who break the law in Florida.
The bills come at a time when the nation faces unprecedented illegal immigration from the southern border and Florida faces a specific threat from a possible wave of illegal immigrants from Haiti.
The first bill, SB 1036, is specifically designed to target illegal immigrants who have entered Florida a second time after a previous deportation and calls for harsher penalties for those who break the law.
In detail, a third-degree felony would be charged as a second-degree felony and carry a penalty of up to 15 years in prison; second-degree felonies would be charged as first-degree felonies and have a penalty of up to 30 years in prison; and first-degree felonies would carry a sentence of life in prison.
Furthermore, SB 1036 will also ratchet up the penalties for illegal immigrants found participating in the activities of drug cartels.
DeSantis then signed two more bills, HB 1451 and HB 1589. The first, HB 1451, will prevent local jurisdictions from accepting ID cards from illegal immigrants given from out-of-state jurisdictions, and HB 1589 will increase penalties for illegal immigrants operating a vehicle without a license and increase the maximum jail time from 60 days to a year for two or more offenses.
DeSantis also announced that he is utilizing state law enforcement to stop incoming vessels from Haiti and elsewhere, including intercepting one boat that had 25 Haitians with guns, drugs and even night vision gear aboard.
The crisis in Haiti has led to growing fears of a mass wave of immigration from the gang-ridden country, with calls for new laws to authorize law enforcement to actively tackle the issue. Currently, the Biden administration has done little to nothing to deter Haitians from making the dangerous journey by boat to try and reach Florida.
I AM CALLING ON GOVERNOR DESANTIS & THE STATE LEGISLATURE TO IMMEDIATELY CALL A SPECIAL LEGISLATIVE SESSION & PASS A LAW ALLOWING FOR THE ARREST & EXPULSION OF ANY AND ALL HAITIAN INVADERS IMMEDIATELY—WE DO NOT HAVE TIME—GET IT DONE NOW
— Anthony Sabatini (@AnthonySabatini) March 12, 2024
As President Biden continues to turn a blind eye to sealing the southern border and letting illegal immigrants roam the nation unmonitored, it is increasingly being left to the individual states to figure out a way to handle the problem themselves.
