Thread: Florida immigration bill's failure angers tea-party

By Kathleen Haughney, Tallahassee Bureau

10:20 p.m. EDT, May 31, 2011
TALLAHASSEE — Republican politicians across Florida and the nation pounded the campaign pavement in 2010 with fiery rhetoric about the need to secure the country's borders and send illegal immigrants home. But when state lawmakers tried to pass legislation during their recent session, those campaign promises fell apart.

A last-minute attempt to patch together an Arizona-style immigration bill failed, angering the tea party, whose supporters helped sweep many of the Republicans into office in November. And the issue doesn't seem likely to go away with both political parties ramping up for the 2012 elections, which includes a three-way Republican primary for the U.S. Senate.

"It's No. 1 as far as I'm concerned," said Danita Kilcullen, co-leader of Tea Party Fort Lauderdale. "Tea parties across the state, they're not going to forget this."

Gov. Rick Scott, in a recent interview with the Sun-Sentinel/Orlando Sentinel, said that the Legislature's failure to pass an immigration bill was one of his biggest regrets about the session, and he had no explanation for why lawmakers couldn't close the deal when it was such a prominent campaign issue."They should have passed an immigration bill," he said.

Kilcullen called lawmakers' failure "maddening" and "frustrating," predicting it would come back to hurt lawmakers in 2012 — a concern for Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, even though he voted for the Senate's immigration bill.

The final days of the 2011 legislative session, which ended May 6, saw lawmakers deadlock over immigration reform.

The House had prepared a hard-line bill that allowed law enforcement to check the immigration status of anyone who was the subject of a criminal investigation and required all private businesses throughout the state to use the E-Verify system to check potential employee's legal status, as Scott has ordered state agencies to do.

But the Senate — heavily lobbied by business groups, including the Florida Chamber of Commerce — balked at the E-Verify provisions. Ignoring Haridopolos, who was more in line with the House position, senators passed a measure that did little beyond requiring police to investigate the immigration status of anyone arrested for a crime.

Haridopolos, in an e-mail, said that the Senate's vote was a "huge step in the right direction" but acknowledged that finding a policy solution to illegal immigration was more difficult than talking about it.

"Governing is a lot harder than campaigning, plain and simple," he said.

Republican lawmakers were also faced with warring factions within their own party.

Tea-party supporters pushed hard for a measure and were buoyed by the support of Scott, who made it a major issue in his primary against former Attorney General Bill McCollum. But the business community, which provides millions for GOP candidates and causes, lobbied hard against a bill, saying it would hurt tourism and scare away companies that were thinking about relocating to Florida.

"When we moved from the campaign trail and the ease of campaign rhetoric, the harsh realities of policymaking made it become abundantly clear that while the majority of Floridians supported reform, some of the major institutions opposed it," said Rep. Will Snyder, R-Stuart, who sponsored the House immigration bill.

David Hart, executive vice president of the Florida Chamber of Commerce, said there was concern about putting a "black mark" on Florida but said the group did support the Senate bill. The Chamber thought E-Verify would have proved expensive and burdensome for many small and medium-sized businesses, Hart said, adding that he doesn't expect the issue to go away.

"There is a degree of frustration out there in Florida and across the country about our porous borders," he said.

Haridopolos and the two other Republicans running for U.S. Senate, former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux and former Florida House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, are each campaigning for immigration reform, with Hasner mocking Haridopolos for failing to pass a bill during the session. The Haridopolos campaign has countered that Hasner didn't address it during his eight years in the House either.

A U.S. Supreme Court decision last week upholding an Arizona law requiring employers to use E-Verify and suspending the license of businesses caught knowingly hiring illegal immigrants seems likely to intensify pressure on lawmakers.

But it's unclear whether legislators will take another stab at an Arizona-style law next year. Haridopolos said he was unsure whether the Senate would take up the issue, and Snyder said he will sponsor a bill only if he can be persuaded that the Legislature will pass his version. But he is not hopeful, though he said he still thinks most Floridians want to make it easier to identify and deport illegal migrants.

Snyder also said he's unsure about the issue's potential impact on the 2012 elections.

"Is it going to be as big this time? I don't know," he said. "I think the potential for it is there."

khaughney@tribune.com or 850-224-6214. Follow her on Twitter @khaughney.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/pol ... 5565.story

the mass firing will continue in Florida ... people are more pissed off than I have ever seen

You got that right Sapper ! Every one I know thinks they have been hoodwinked by the Repubs.

The only thing Scott has done right is sign an order to drug test everyone on medicaid as of July 1st. That should stop some IA's from receiving welfare bennys.

Notice how no one is taking the blame ? Haridopolous just doomed his chance to become a US Senator for sure.