By Michael Moline| Editor in Chief
“If we have local officials decide that they want to ignore federal immigration law and the laws of the state of Florida and create sanctuaries, they’ll be removed from office, as well.” — Byron Donalds
Protesters gathered in front of the Florida Capitol building on May 30, 2025, a day after ICE raided a Tallahassee construction site, detaining more than 100 workers. (Photo by Jay Waagmeester/Florida Phoenix)
He hasn’t got the governor’s endorsement (nobody has, for that matter). But the GOP gubernatorial frontrunner is emulating DeSantis’ approach to enforcing conformity on immigration policy or slapping down any local officials who step out of line. “That’s one of the reasons why people are coming into our state. Because they want to be safe. So, we’re not going to ask some state attorney who’s going to go rogue and follow [George] Soros and the DSA thinking that they’re not going to uphold Florida law,” he said.
The students staged a silent protest during a university event against the campus police’s agreement to help the Trump administration round up undocumented immigrants. According to the lawsuit filed on their behalf by the ACLU and Community Justice Project, they never interfered with the events on stage — they merely stood up, donned T-shirts protesting ICE, and turned their backs to the stage. “Inviting federal enforcement on campus goes against everything this university claims to represent — and instead of listening to students’ real concerns about this, they punished us,” one of the students said.
The grants are made possible by a federal program that provides states access to $10 billion in each of the next five years in grant funding. The grants can support expanded access to care, recruitment and retainment of providers, and for technological innovation, including remote care and emerging delivery models. Dollars cannot be used to reimburse costs of the care provided, though. The feds sent nearly $210 million, but the state’s not spending it all.
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