A Day After Blocking Diverting Emergency Money to Migrant Enforcement, House Backs Down

The Florida House on Tuesday backed down from its proposal to block emergency funds from being used on illegal immigration enforcement following harsh criticism from the DeSantis administration.

This represents a massive pivot from the GOP-dominated House’s original proposal to exclusively use the Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund on natural disasters, an idea blasted as “moronic” by the state Attorney General James Uthmeier, a former aide to Gov. Ron DeSantis.

A Tuesday addition to the bill, which came the same day the fund was set to expire, would allow these emergency dollars to also be spent on manmade and technological disasters — as long as the Legislative Budget Commission is able to review every time the governor wants to extend these declared state of emergencies.

Republican House Speaker Danny Perez, who’s long feuded with DeSantis, said this would include immigration.

“The [Division] of Emergency Management will be able to use funds for illegal immigration,” Perez told reporters Tuesday, biting back at “narratives” that the House doesn’t want to enforce immigration laws. “They’re gonna have the right resources to continue to combat illegal immigration.”

Perez added that he wants to make sure natural disasters — “something that we can’t control the timing of” — take priority for the emergency fund. But that trust will pay for immigration, too, he said.

His comments came in stark contrast to the bill sponsor’s just one day earlier. Republican Rep. Griff Griffits told reporters that immigration problems “come and go,” and any necessary funding could just be allocated through a special session.

DeSantis first declared a state of emergency for immigration in Jan. 2023. Because these declarations expire by law every 60 days, he’s renewed the call repeatedly since then.

Tuesday’s amendment to HB 5503 would still prevent emergency managers from using the fund to pay for aircraft, boats, or motor vehicles. This follows reports that FDEM spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on private jet flights and boats.

FDEM has pulled $573 million out of the trust in three years to combat illegal immigration. They’ve spent $406 million of that in six months. Those costs included restaurant meals and the operation of the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” and “Deportation Depot” migrant lockups.

But despite Democratic backlash, DeSantis defended the fund’s payments Tuesday, pointing out that his broad emergency powers allowed the state to rescue Floridians from Israel and Haiti and lead on immigration. Florida is the only state in the nation that requires all of its counties to partner with ICE.

“I’d be very surprised if [the Legislature] were going to do anything that was going to lead to the release of a really significant number of criminal aliens,” DeSantis said. “What are you going to say to somebody if they end up getting victimized by one of these folks?”

This came after Uthmeier called the House’s plan “moronic” while the governor’s staff suggested the bill’s architects aren’t real Republicans.

But the fund is expiring…

None of this will matter — at least not immediately.

The fund expires Tuesday night because lawmakers couldn’t agree on whether it should have guardrails. The Senate last week voted to keep the measure as is, while the House wanted limits on spending and has pushed its bill in front of only one committee.

It lapsed at midnight with roughly $200 million left in its coffers. That money will flow back into general revenue, leaving DeSantis without access to the quick pot of cash he’s had since 2022 to pay for disaster relief and, more recently, immigration.

The Legislature created the fund in 2022 to allow the governor to quickly pay for declared emergencies without legislative approval.

The trust was set to expire exactly four years after its creation: Feb. 17, 2026. The Senate would have extended the fund until Dec. 2027, while the House proposes keeping it through July 2030.

–Liv Caputo, Florida Phoenix