Florida Sanctuary City Ban Forges On, Likely to be Signed by Gov. DeSantis

The Florida state Senate approved legislation to ban sanctuary cities that shield criminal illegal aliens from being deported, a plan that is now likely headed to Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R) desk.

On Friday, the Florida state Senate passed the sanctuary city ban on a 22 to 18 vote, with only one Republican, state Sen. Anitere Flores, voting against the measure along with every elected state Senate Democrat.

The sanctuary city ban, one of DeSantis’s leading initiatives since becoming governor, comes with strict enforcement mechanisms designed to prevent localities and counties from shielding criminal illegal aliens from being deported by federal immigration officials.

For example, the plan includes a fine of $5,000 that the state can impose on a jurisdiction for every day that they have a sanctuary policy in place.

The sanctuary city ban now heads back to the state House, where it was already approved, for passage with new amendments and is likely to soon head to the desk of DeSantis to be signed into law.

Should Florida implement a sanctuary city ban, they will be only the second state with one of the largest foreign-born populations in the country to do so. The first state with a significant foreign-born population to ban sanctuary cities was Texas last year.

Today, Florida has the fourth largest foreign-born population in the county, with more than 4.1 million illegal aliens, legal immigrants, and foreign-born naturalized citizens. California, Texas, and New York continue to have the largest foreign-born populations in the county. California, a sanctuary state, has almost as many foreign-born residents as New York, Texas, and Florida combined, with more than 10.5 million illegal aliens, legal residents, and foreign-born naturalized citizens living in the state.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.