Florida bill would let governor use military force against refugees

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – Gov. Rick Scott would be able to use military power to keep immigrants or refugees from entering Florida if they are from or have been near countries where “invaders” live or train if a bill a House committee approved Wednesday becomes law.

The so-called “Prevention of Acts of War” bill would let the governor declare that certain immigrants and refugees are “restricted people” if he determines they are from countries where he believes invaders want to come to the United States to attack people or property.

The bill (HB 1095) would prohibit any state or local government employee or any person receiving state assistance of any kind, including Medicare, from helping immigrants or refugees entering or resettling in Florida unless the immigrants were born in the Western Hemisphere. Anyone assisting a restricted person would have to turn that person’s personal information over to the state. The state would be allowed to monitor restricted people.

It would allow the governor and attorney general to take any legal action to prevent the federal government from resettling a restricted person in the state. It would also require that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement do a background check on every restricted person in Florida.

Republican Rep. Lake Ray of Jacksonville said his bill is responding to the threat of the Islamic State group and attacks in Paris and elsewhere. He said terrorists are falsifying passports and trying to send invaders to the United States. He said Florida has to take it upon itself to protect citizens and its economy.

“God forbid one of these events happened at a Disney or a Universal Studio,” Ray said. “You can put ‘For Sale’ on the state of Florida.”

The bill was approved on a 9-4 vote with only Republicans in favor and only Democrats opposed. Instead of a simple “yes,” Republican Rep. Charles Van Zant of Keystone Heights cast his vote with an emphatic “Absolutely.”

The provision that keeps immigrants born in the Western Hemisphere off the restricted people list would apply to South and Central Americans, Mexicans and Canadians, but wouldn’t automatically apply to people born in many countries allied with the United States, including Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Norway, Greece and parts of France, Great Britain and Spain.

Ray included language in the bill that states the Florida constitution gives the governor the right to use all military forces not in active service of the United States, including the general militia, to defend the state.

There was no debate on the bill from either side. In the Democrats’ case, they just didn’t bother.

“It’s hard to dignify a bill like that by debating it,” Democratic Rep. Dave Kerner of Lake Worth said after the meeting. “It’s unconstitutional, it’s offensive, it does nothing for the safety and protection of our state and it’s highly ineffective and very subjective. I could go on for hours about problems I have with the bill.”

He also noted that none of the Republican representatives debated in favor of the bill and suggested that their support is a reflection of their constituents’ fears.

“It’s playing into an area in which Donald Trump has done very well, and that’s capitalizing on the fears of, more likely than not, good people,” Kerner said. “I think a lot of the Republican members voted for it because they felt compelled to by the constituents and that’s a broader reflection on society right now.”

The bill has two more committee stops. A similar Senate bill (SB 1712) hasn’t been schedule for its first of three committee hearings, a sign that its prospects are dim.