TALLAHASSEE, Florida — Florida’s most powerful Republicans are in a knockdown, drag-out fight over illegal immigration. And they’re all clamoring for the approval of one man for their preferred policies: Donald Trump.
Citing Trump’s arrival in the White House, Gov. Ron DeSantis this month demanded Florida legislators pass a slew of proposals on illegal immigration that he said came after consulting with the president and his administration. But GOP state legislative leaders passed their own bill, with rank-and-file members saying repeatedly that they think their plan is most in line with Trump’s ideas — and that they too have the president’s ear.
Trump hasn’t chimed into the fight publicly, except to say earlier this month on Truth Social that he wants to see more states change their laws to support his immigration executive orders like Florida appeared poised to do. But the feud has both sides clamoring for the president’s approval, underscoring Trump’s immense pull in the Sunshine State — and how much clout DeSantis has lost.
The back-and-forth between DeSantis, his supporters, legislators and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson has grown more heated by the hour, with online insults aplenty.
“I guess the boxing gloves are on,” said state Rep. Mike Caruso (R-West Palm Beach), who ultimately voted against the legislation.
DeSantis once relied on his relationship with Trump to help him become governor, but then unsuccessfully challenged him in the 2024 primary. The two initially remained rivals, but have since golfed together. Trump considered DeSantis for Defense secretary, and the governor has said he wants Florida to do everything it can to support the president’s agenda.
The governor called lawmakers to Tallahassee on Monday to try to force their hand on passing new bills, having grown accustomed to deference during his six years of office. But in an extraordinary move, lawmakers quickly ended that special session and started their own. They introduced measures that matched some of DeSantis’ requests, but not all.
And to make the bill especially painful for DeSantis, lawmakers created a position of chief immigration officer that DeSantis wanted under his office and gave it to Simpson, someone with whom the governor has had a frosty relationship. Then, as if to underscore the point that the governor could no longer call all the shots, lawmakers then overrode a nearly $57 million veto in the budget that both chambers use for support services.
State House Speaker Danny Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton are daring DeSantis to veto the immigration legislation, which they named after Trump (the Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy Act). The Senate bill was introduced by state Sen. Joe Gruters (R-Sarasota), a longtime Trump ally who’s been unafraid to go toe-to-toe with DeSantis even when the governor was at his most powerful. Gruters argued that the bill he introduced was “what the president ultimately needs from us here in Florida,” and he shared on the chamber floor that he’d discussed it with Trump.
“I’m glad the governor has highlighted immigration as a priority to help the president and with that I’m in all agreement,” Gruters told POLITICO. “But I like our path better.”
DeSantis seems poised to reject the Legislature’s bill or to keep pressing them to go further. He has slammed the “watered-down” bill on social media and on Sean Hannity.
In a lengthy statement posted to X, DeSantis called the legislation “substantially weaker” than what he’d proposed. He then, in a separate post, accused the Legislature of “squishing out.” When they added more provisions on Tuesday — not to appease DeSantis but after “technical assistance from the Trump administration” — the governor declared the edited bill “weak, weak, weak.”
But the virtual and TV pressure campaign DeSantis has relied on in the past is losing its luster. Lawmakers accused him of lying about their bill and pressed ahead anyway, in what’s become the biggest defeat for DeSantis since he came in a distant second to Trump in the Iowa caucuses a year ago, forcing him to drop out of the presidential race. The governor will be term-limited out of office in early 2027, and hasn’t ruled out running for president again in 2028.
Asked about lawmakers’ posture toward the governor, state Rep. Lawrence McClure (R-Dover), who introduced the House bill, replied that, “It was unprecedented for the governor to use some of the tactics that he’s used.” He then stressed how much the legislative process was tied to Trump.
“You had a president who was elected for four years — who was unseated for four years — that was just reelected for four years and quite frankly put through hell and back in his reentry to the presidency. That’s compelling,” he said. “I think it’s only the second time in American history that that has happened, and I don’t think anyone is confused what his No. 1 discussion point on the campaign trail was for four years.”
The Legislature’s pushback, widely seen as setting a new tone in Tallahassee, will make it harder for DeSantis to accomplish his broader goals. When he ran for president in 2024, DeSantis often presented himself as a more effective version of Trump. But he didn’t mention how much of his agenda relied on the Legislature as a willing ally, even as many GOP lawmakers flew to Iowa in snowy, bitterly cold weather to knock on doors for him. Now, Trump holds the keys to making DeSantis’ immigration goals a reality.
“It’s a new day in Tallahassee, and I think the Legislature is going to step up,” state Sen. Randy Fine (R-Melbourne Beach) said Monday. “And it’s unfortunate. I think if he had ever learned to be collaborative, I think we would be at a different outcome. But sometimes people need to be set right, and that’s what’s happened to him today.”
Other lawmakers expressed consternation about the process. Rep. Fiona McFarland (R-Sarasota) said special sessions tend to feel rushed both for lawmakers and constituents. “I just talked to my sheriff as I was walking over here,” she said. “I would have liked to talk to my schools as well.”
State Rep. Taylor Yarkosky (R-Clermont) called DeSantis “the greatest governor we have ever had” but added that he thought the speaker “has absolutely got this right” because lawmakers used Trump’s executive orders “as our benchmark” for the bill.
“I don’t think there’s one person in this chamber that likes what’s going on,” he said. “No one wants to get up and come into a special session to fight — we want to come in and get work done, because we all look at this as the greatest honor of our lives, to be able to serve in here and do this work. So I just refuse to acquiesce and get involved in the leadership or interpersonal issues there.”
State Sen. Shevrin Jones (D-Miami Gardens) said when he was first elected to the House in 2012, the legislative and executive branches worked as independent bodies. But, Jones noted, that changed after DeSantis became governor in 2019. After Monday’s session, it appeared that the two branches of government were acting independently again, he said.
“The governor, the king, has fallen,” said state Sen. Shevrin Jones (D-Miami Gardens). “The governor is not the king of the Legislature.”
Arek Sarkissian, Isa Domínguez and Andrew Atterbury contributed to this report.
