DeSantis orders special session on immigration, with Trump inauguration looming

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday he would call a special session for late January, saying that he wants legislators to help the state prepare for the illegal immigration crackdown that is expected once President-elect Donald Trump takes office.

“We don’t have time to waste,” DeSantis said. “The American people spoke very clearly.”

DeSantis also wants legislators to consider changes to how citizen initiatives get on the ballot, a revamp of condominium laws passed after the Surfside disaster, as well as setting aside more money to help hurricane-battered communities.

The governor made the move, even though there has been little publicly announced buy-in from new legislative leaders about jumping into action now. The Florida Legislature already has its regular session scheduled to start in March. DeSantis said he is looking to call the special session for the week of Jan. 27.

Immigration main focus: Trump has promised to begin a massive deportation of people who entered the country illegally once he is inaugurated on Jan. 20.

DeSantis did not go into deep detail about some of the changes he wants to help with that effort, but acknowledged he wants lawmakers to go ahead and repeal a law that allows undocumented students to pay the in-state rate for tuition. Then-Gov. Rick Scott signed the tuition break measure into law back in 2014. One of the prime sponsors at the time was then-state Rep. Jeanette Nunez, who is now lieutenant governor.

“We need to remove all incentives to come to the state of Florida illegally, and that is one of them,” he said.

DeSantis also wants to provide funding to local sheriffs and others helping with the crackdown to hold “accountable” any local jurisdictions that attempt to hinder it. The governor did not have an exact figure, but said the amount could be in the “tens of millions.”

Initiative changes and more: DeSantis also wants legislators to move quickly on changing the law to make it harder to get citizen initiatives on the ballot, citing an investigation his administration undertook looking at petitions used to get the abortion access amendment on last November’s ballot. It fell just short of the 60 percent threshold needed to pass.

He wants to enact new requirements to verify signatures, including the possible use of photo identification or mandating the signature be notarized. DeSantis also discussed giving the state Supreme Court an expanded role in deciding whether the amendments should be allowed on the ballot.

DeSantis also acknowledged that there is no firm deal between the state House and state Senate on how to deal with the condo crisis in the state. Condo owners are worried about rising assessments that have become necessary in order to follow new safety guidelines. Legislators enacted the changes after 98 people died when a condominium building collapsed in June 2021 in a Miami suburb.

Reaction: Legislative leaders did not immediately respond to DeSantis’ special session announcement, a sign that they may not be in complete agreement with the governor’s requests.

One Democratic legislator, state Rep. Anna Eskamani, blasted DeSantis for “wasting taxpayer dollars” to “stage a political spectacle instead of solving the real issues facing our state. This special session is not about helping Floridians — it’s about grabbing national headlines and doubling down on divisive, partisan rhetoric.”

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