Democrats and immigrants’ rights groups criticized the bill, which was approved 9-5 by the House Local, Federal & Veterans Subcommittee in a party-line vote. They said it targets immigrant communities and would create a parallel immigration enforcement regime that Rep. Daisy Baez, D-Coral Gables, described as smacking of “big government, paranoia, and persecution.”
Metz, who chairs the House Public Integrity & Ethics Committee, said the bill simply brings state enforcement in line with federal law, enabling “seamless cooperation” between local, state, and federal government agencies to enforce laws already on the books.
Metz stressed the distinction between legal and illegal immigration.
“It’s all-important in my view that the rule of law be followed,” Metz said. “If we simply say, ‘If you can get here, you can stay here,’ and we don’t care about the legal distinctions, we’re going to have more and more people coming here illegally and fewer coming here through the legal immigration system.”
