ELECTION/FLORIDA/GOP/HISPANIC/IMMIGRATION/LEGISLATION/SANCTUARY CITIES/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Florida Republicans once worried that hardline immigration policies would alienate Hispanic voters and cost the party the nation’s biggest swing state. Then came Donald Trump, who carried Florida in 2016. Two years later, Gov. Ron DeSantis won election running as a Trump clone. Now the GOP-led Legislature is heeding DeSantis’ call and is poised to pass legislation cracking down on so-called sanctuary cities. The bill would mark a triumph for a wing of the party that has pushed to call the bluff of moderates and Democrats who have long predicted that anti-immigration policies would mean electoral catastrophe for Republicans…Democrats and advocates for immigrants have sharply criticized the proposed legislation, which would ban ‘sanctuary’ or ‘safe’ cities, municipalities that limit cooperation with federal immigration officials. They’ve invoked the national controversy over immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border by labeling the measure a ‘family separation bill,’ a callous political ploy and ‘spiritual evil.’”
–Gary Finest, “Florida GOP goes full Trump on immigration under DeSantis,” Politico, April 24, 2019 3:35 pm