24 February 2025 :
February 13, 2025 - Florida. In the span of four days Florida passed a package of laws against undocumented immigrants.
Including the death penalty for various crimes, not just murder.
Introduced in the Senate on Feb. 10, by Feb. 13 bills SB 2-C and SB 4-C had already been passed by both chambers, and ratified by Governor Ron DeSantis, White, Republican.
Any undocumented immigrant convicted of a capital felony will face the death penalty.
Introduced in the Senate on Feb. 10, by Feb. 13 bills SB 2-C and SB 4-C had already been passed by both chambers, and the same day ratified by Governor Ron DeSantis, white, Republican.
The House vote was 25-11, the Senate vote 85-29. Under newly enacted SB 2-C, undocumented immigrants living in Florida will no longer be eligible for the in-state tuition rate at Florida’s public colleges and universities. Starting on July 1, 2025, students will be reevaluated for tuition eligibility.
SB 2-C and SB 4-C provide for several new criminal penalties, including a provision in SB 4-C requiring courts to impose the death penalty for any undocumented immigrant who is convicted of first-degree murder, statutory rape, and trafficking in controlled substances — capital crimes in Florida. The legislation also extends the death penalty to illegal immigrants who are members of criminal gangs.
This provision is expected to be challenged in court.
SB 4-C also makes it a first-degree misdemeanor for undocumented immigrants who are eighteen years of age or older to “knowingly” enter or attempt to enter Florida. SB 2-C and SB 4-C enhance the penalties of all misdemeanor crimes committed by undocumented immigrants.
Under SB 2-C, undocumented immigrants who vote or aid noncitizens in voting can be charged with a third-degree felony.
Senate Bill 2-C creates a State Board of Immigration Enforcement. The State Board of Immigration Enforcement will coordinate with and assist the federal government and state law enforcement agencies in enforcing “federal immigration laws and other matters related to the enforcement of federal immigration laws.”
The State Board of Immigration Enforcement will be composed of the governor and a cabinet to be appointed.
SB 2-C allocates more than $298 million for state law enforcement agencies to carry out the state’s immigration objectives. The allocation includes funding for the hiring of fifty new law enforcement officers, a $1,000 bonus incentive program for immigration enforcement officers, and training grants.
Governor DeSantis’s signing of both bills continues his immigration objectives and follows Senate Bill 1718, which he signed into law in May 2023.
