Florida lawmakers have introduced legislation that would make the death penalty mandatory for unauthorized immigrants convicted of capital crimes, eliminating judicial and jury discretion in sentencing.
The bill is part of a broader package that resulted from a compromise between Governor Ron DeSantis and state GOP lawmakers and followed weeks of infighting over immigration enforcement.
The initiative goes further than President Donald Trump, who in an executive order directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to also seek the death penalty for serious crimes committed by undocumented immigrants. However, while Trump's order still allows jury deliberation on the sentencing, the bill eliminates the jury's role in weighing aggravating or mitigating factors.
Legal experts consulted by the Miami Herald say the bill stands in conflict with Supreme Court rulings, which mandate individualized sentencing in death penalty cases and has struck down past mandatory death sentences. Moreover, it could challenge the 8th Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.
The bill could also extend mandatory death sentences to crimes beyond homicide. Florida law classifies certain non-homicide offenses, such as drug trafficking and child sexual abuse, as capital crimes.
The state has recently pursued policies that challenge Supreme Court rulings on capital punishment. In 2023, Florida lowered the threshold for juries to impose a death sentence, requiring only an 8-4 vote instead of unanimity. The state also passed a law allowing the death penalty for child rape, directly challenging a 2008 Supreme Court ruling that restricted the punishment to murder cases.
The broader set of bills comes after an almost three-week tense standoff between the governor and his fellow Sunshine State Republicans. DeSantis, who is in his last term in office, had called for a special legislative session on immigration earlier this year, but the Florida legislature declined, asserting that they would discuss the issue in their own terms.
As part of the compromise, no single elected officials— DeSantis or the legislature's preferred agriculture commissioner— will be Florida's chief immigration officer. Instead, the governor, the agriculture commissioner, the attorney general and the chief financial officer will all sit on a new state board of immigration enforcement. The board's decision will have to be unanimous.
The governor had previously been vocal about his opposition to having the Agriculture Commissioner, Wilton Simpson, lead immigration efforts in the state. In fact, he had called the legislature's proposed measures "weak," and said putting Simpson, an egg farmer, in charge of immigration enforcement was akin to "putting the fox in charge of the henhouse."
Under the new compromise, DeSantis will still have a say on Florida deportations, but power on the matter has been diminished, as any plans would need to be supervised by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). According to a bill that is expected to pass the Legislature Friday, any transportation plans would need to be under ICE's "direct control and supervision." The federal government would also need to reimburse the state for all transportation costs, which previously had been paid by Florida taxpayers.
Nevertheless, the governor did not win lawmakers' support for a plan to stop unauthorized immigrants from sending money back to their home countries. He also lost control over a state program that in 2022 paid to recruit and fly several dozen undocumented immigrants to Martha's Vineyard.
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