WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held a news conference Friday morning at the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, where he signed three bills that he said all aim to deter illegal immigration.
“This is going to be a deterrent for illegal immigration into the state of Florida. You come here, you’re not getting a license. We’re not recognizing your California license that you may have gotten in a sanctuary state,” DeSantis said.
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The bills — HB 1589, SB 1036 and HB 1451 — will enact the following changes later this year:
HB 1589, “Driving Without a Valid Driver License”
- This bill in part revises penalties for people driving in Florida without a valid driver’s license. A first conviction would constitute a second-degree misdemeanor, a second conviction would be a first-degree misdemeanor and a third would mean another first-degree misdemeanor, this time with a mandatory 10-day jail sentence. HB 1589 goes into effect July 1.
SB 1036, “Reclassification of Criminal Penalties”
- This bill will take effect Oct. 1, 2024. It is meant to reclassify felonies committed by individuals who are in the U.S. illegally after previously being deported, as well as to reclassify felonies and misdemeanors connected to the benefit or promotion of a “transnational crime organization,” defined in the bill as “an organization that routinely facilitates the international trafficking of drugs, humans, or weapons or the international smuggling of humans.”
- Regarding felonies committed by previously-deported individuals who are in the U.S. illegally,
- Third-degree felonies will be reclassified as second-degree felonies
- Second-degree felonies will be reclassified to first-degree felonies
- First-degree felonies will be reclassified to life felonies
- Regarding crimes that seek to benefit of a “transnational crime organization,”
- Second-degree misdemeanors will be reclassified to first-degree misdemeanors
- First-degree misdemeanors will be reclassified to third-degree felonies
- Third-degree felonies will be reclassified as second-degree felonies
- Second-degree felonies will be reclassified to first-degree felonies
- First-degree felonies will be reclassified to life felonies
HB 1451, “Identification Documents”
- HB 1451 restricts counties and municipalities from accepting “any identification card or document issued by any person, entity, or organization that knowingly issues such identification cards or documents to individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States,” with the exception of documentation issued by or behalf of the federal government. Going into effect July 1, the bill also prevents Florida counties and municipalities from providing funds to a person, entity or organization for the purpose of issuing an identification card or document to people unable to prove their lawful presence in the U.S.
The governor was joined by Florida Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez, Attorney General Ashley Moody and Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.
Judd called back to the recently-announced results of “Operation March Sadness 2024,” an investigation of suspects engaging in prostitution-related activities that reportedly turned out 228 arrests and the identification of 13 human trafficking victims.
“We arrested 228 people in a human trafficking operation and we rescued folks. Then there was this 21 people were here illegally that we arrested out of the 228. Listen to me, 9% of all of the arrests in this one operation by these law enforcement agencies in one county, 9% were here illegally,” Judd said.
Watch the news conference again in the media player below:
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