House bill targets ‘sanctuary' communities’

TALLAHASSEE — A state House panel voted to crack down on local laws protecting immigrants who enter the country illegally from being detained or deported as a result of contact with law enforcement.

The House Civil Justice and Claims Subcommittee voted 9-5 along party lines Monday to pass the bill cracking down on so-called “sanctuary” communities. The bill, filed by state Rep. Larry Metz, R-Yalaha, would require state and local governments as well as local law enforcement to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

But the bill would do a lot more.

It would require law enforcement to ask people they stop about their immigration status.

It would require law enforcement to search federal databases for anyone they arrest who does not have proof of legal residence.

It would cut state funding for five years to any government entity in Florida that kept sanctuary policies in spite of the law.

In Broward and Palm Beach counties, jails only honor immigration detention requests accompanied by a signed warrant or deportation order from a federal judge. In Miami-Dade County, the mayor ordered jails to comply with all federal immigration detention requests.

Democrats argued the proposal could result in a wave of lawsuits.

“You’re going to bankrupt counties,” said state Rep. John Cortes, DKissimmee.

In Broward County, the school board voted last week to require warrants from any immigration authorities who attempt to enter school property. Metz argued that the bill is meant to address local governments and law enforcement, not school districts and said the school board’s resolution would not be illegal under his bill.

“It’s not really intended for school districts that have sanctuary policies over what the law allows,” Metz said.

Activists and advocates spoke out against the bill on moral and economic grounds.

“This criminalizes our community with this false idea that we’re all breaking the law,” said Charo Valero, state policy director of the Florida Latina Advocacy Network.