Senate expected to take up immigration bill today


By LINDSAY PETERSON | The Tampa Tribune
Published: May 03, 2011
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TALLAHASSEE --

The Florida Senate plans to finally take up its immigration bill on today.

Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos said he had planned to deal with it on Monday, but said it's a complicated measure and he wanted to give senators a chance to read it.

Still, immigrants came to the state Capitol on Monday holding signs and chanting "Si, se puede," and "God is with us."

Sen. Anitere Flores, a Miami Republican, sponsored an earlier Senate bill, but Haridopolos said he wanted a stronger version and gave it to Senate Budget Chairman JD Alexander last week.

Alexander, however, a Lake Wales Republican and grower, has expressed reservations about any bill that limits immigration, saying Florida farmers rely on immigrant labor.

"In a perfect world we would control our borders, and I believe we should, (but) folks have been here through essentially tacit permission of the government for decades. It seems challenging to suddenly ask them to not be here," Alexander said last week.

The House has already passed a tougher Arizona-style bill that makes it a second-degree misdemeanor to be in Florida without legal residency and authorizes police to check a person's immigration status after an arrest.

lpeterson@tampatrib.com

(813) 259-7834


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