Florida House Passes Immigration Bill Banning Sanctuary City Policies

ET: The Florida House passed a high-profile bill on April 24 that would require law enforcement agencies to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, in a bid to ban so-called sanctuary city policies that shield illegal aliens, pushing the state to the forefront of the nation’s immigration debate.

The Republican-led chamber voted 69–47, largely along party lines, to send the measure to the Senate, where a similar bill is pending. The move marks the latest effort by the GOP to enforce immigration laws.

During his campaign, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, signaled that he would sign any legislation that banned sanctuary cities.

Currently, Florida isn’t known to have formal “sanctuary cities” like those in other states, aside from one area—Alachua County. Sanctuary cities are locales that have enacted measures to prevent local officials from cooperating with federal immigration authorities. Eight states and hundreds of cities across the United States are recognized as sanctuaries for illegal aliens.

The bill, sponsored by Republican state Rep. Cord Byrd, would ban such policies and require local authorities to honor detainer requests from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that can lead to a person’s deportation.  more here