PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Gov. Ron DeSantis was in Palm Beach County on Thursday morning where he scolded lawmakers on legislation passed this week on illegal immigration.
The governor spoke for about an hour at the sheriff's office training facility on Cherry Road.
WATCH BELOW: DeSantis blasts lawmakers during stop in Palm Beach County
The bill — known as the "Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy (TRUMP) Act" — was passed this week by lawmakers and cedes DeSantis' oversight authority on immigration procedures and grants it to the state's Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson.
DeSantis has lambasted that move as putting the "fox in charge of the hen house."
"The structure of the bill is patently ridiculous," DeSantis said Thursday. "It will lead to the removal of fewer illegal aliens."
The bill, which was shepherded by House Speaker Daniel Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton, allocates half a billion dollars to beefing up state and local coordination with federal law enforcement. It also would mean enhanced criminal penalties for immigrants without legal permission who commit crimes in the U.S.
DeSantis said he will veto what he called a "very grotesque, weak ... destructive" piece of legislation, which he contends "knee-caps some of the things we're already doing."
"Nobody elected the commissioner of agriculture to do the immigration stuff," DeSantis said. "I got elected by a massive margin. One of the main issues I ran on was curtailing illegal immigration, so to strip it from the governor (and give that authority to the) commissioner of agriculture is ridiculous."
The governor on Thursday also pushed back on the notion that his calls for a special session to address illegal immigration was a "stunt."
"It's not a stunt when you're upholding the law," DeSantis said. "It's not a stunt when you're removing these criminal aliens. It is not a stunt when you have processes in place that can prevent some of the tragedies that we've seen throughout our state and throughout our country."
He was joined by Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and state Rep. Mike Caruso.
DeSantis also held two roundtable discussions with law enforcement officials on the same topic Wednesday in Titusville and Fort Myers.
Earlier this month, DeSantis called a special session of the Florida legislature to not only address illegal immigration but also more hurricane aid for victims, a crackdown on ballot initiative signature fraud and condo relief. However, on Monday lawmakers decided to call their own special session.
