In an effort to push back on the federal government regarding immigration policies and protect Florida from the current administration’s open border policies, Florida’s Governor DeSantis has proposed legislation with he says should be a blueprint for other states. The plan is viewed as a “state-led anti-illegal immigration bill” and includes higher penalties for human smuggling, requirements for employers to confirm the legal status of employees, increased penalties for falsifying documents along with legislation around health care, voting rights and out of state IDs.
The health care part of the plan focuses on learning how much money is actually spent on health care for illegal immigrants – at taxpayer expense. The estimate for the last year in Florida is $310 million.
California, under Governor Newsome, has issued some 1.1 million driver licenses to illegal immigrants and is now allowing them to receive state issued identification cards. The Florida plan will invalidate out of state IDs issued to illegal immigrants.
Florida state Sen. Blaise Ingoglia is working on the bill with the Governor.
