>>All illegal entr will immediately be halted.

>>This week on NewsNight as President Trump signs a series of executive actions o immigration, Florida lawmakers prepare for a special sessio to plan for mass deportations.

>>We need all hands on deck.

We need to lead.

>>Th new administration in Washington and what it means for Florida.

NewsNight starts now.

[MUSIC] Hello, I'm Steve Mor and welcome to NewsNight, where we take an in-dept look at the top storie and issues in Central Florida and how they shap our community.

First, tonight, President Trump's executive orders on immigration and Florida's promise to help him execute his plans.

State lawmakers will gather in Tallahassee next week for a special session to talk about immigration, as well as condo regulations.

Governor DeSantis attended the presidential inauguration in Washington on Monday and has vowed to ensure Florida backs federal deportation efforts and also pass more of its own restrictions on immigrants in the state without authorization.

Pledging to shake up the federal civil service, reshape America's energy policy and rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, President Trump's executive actions on day one of his second term were sweeping.

Among the most expansive set of orders came on immigration, including the declaration of a state of emergency at the southern border, an attempt to end birthright citizenship, and a promise to begin mass deportations.

>>All illegal entry will immediately be halted and we will begin the process of returning millions and millions of criminal aliens back to the places from which they came.

>>In Florida, Governor DeSantis has promised state resources to assist in federal immigration enforcement efforts.

A special legislative session is set to begin on Monday, so lawmakers can formulat the state's actions on the issue going forward.

>>Even though it's the federal government's primary responsibility to enforce our borders and enforce our immigratio laws, practically speaking, given how many people cam in under Biden, if the president and the Trump administration does not have support from state and local governments across the country, the policy is not going to be optimally effective.

It's just the reality.

And so we in Florida hav an opportunity yet again to lead and to say we are going to be there every step of the way, as the new president works to end this crisis once and for all.

But the decision to call a special session for just a week after President Trump's swearing in has receive pushback from Republican leaders in the legislature who called the move premature.

Brevard State Senator Randy Fine has also criticized the timing, but has filed a bill for the special session to eliminate in-state tuition for undocumented students living in Florida.

>>Why should an illegal immigrant get a lower pric to go to our colleges and universitie than an American?

I think that's immoral.

I mean, look they should go get in-state tuitio on the place that they're from.

I think it's not fair to ask a Georgian or a New Yorker or someone from Minnesota to pay 3 to 4 times as someone who's from who's from another country and shouldn't be in this country.

>>But some Democrats, including Orlando state Representative Anna Eskamani accused the governor of wasting taxpayer mone on a political stunt and reject Senator Fine's proposals to end in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants.

>>They are paying out of pocket, in most cases, revenue to our universitie that would not exist because many of these students cannot affor to go to a state college if they were payin the full tuition price.

So, ironically, Florida is actually set to lose money by pushing these students out to other states because they're not going to be able to actually afford to go to a public university if they don't qualify for that in-state tuition.

>>Orlando Democrat Anna Eskamani there.

Well, my colleague Kryste Knowles talked with University of North Florida political scientist Michael Binder this week.

She asked him about the resistance shown to the governor's decision to call a special session.

>>You've seen some pushbac from the legislators themselves about this, which is unique in Florid in the last, you know, half dozen years or so.

You know, DeSanti has really run roughshod.

And it's been you know.

Yes, sir.

How much, sir, how much more can I give you, sir?

This was the first real public pushback that we've seen him go through.

And, you know, ultimately, we don't know what's going to come out of this session, in the coming week.

But, you know, the idea that that Florida is at the ground zero for immigration in this country is just simply, factually not accurate.

You know, we don't have the same types of daily struggles that places like Texa and Arizona and California do.

And these are things that, you know, listen, when DeSantis wanted to fly immigrants up to Martha's Vineyard, he had to go to Texas to get them.

So I'm not saying that obviously there's not people here that are undocumented.

Of course there are.

But we are not necessaril the place that should be leading the charge on this.

>>What kind of steps could the state take on enforcement and resources at this stage on immigration while there are few specifics from the incoming Trump team?

>>Not a ton.

I mean, obviously, the state has, you know, police officers and things of that nature.

But it's not like there is a, a team of uniformed officer whose sole job is to go around and hunt down undocumented immigrants, scoop them up and deport them.

Typically, you know, as undocumenteds come through the system, they get arrested for something else.

They got they got tied up in a traffic stop.

There's a crime committed.

You know, though, that's typically how these things are happening.

A lot of the work force enforcement that was initially put forth a couple of years ago, and a lot of the legislation it went through was watered down so that employers really aren't on the hook for hiring undocumented.

Because obviously those folks have an interest in hiring undocumented, maybe work for a cheaper wage, maybe do jobs that other folks are unwilling to do.

So, they're not the ones that are that are flagging down the authorities and saying, hey, I've got this person here who's working for me.

Come take them away.

Make my life harder.

>>Michael Binder there fro the University of North Florida.

Well, let's bring in our panel now to break it all down.

Joining us in the studio this week, Brendan Byrne, Assistant News Director, Central Florida Public Media, thanks so much for coming in.

Good to see you.

Beth Kassab edits for the Winter Park Voice.

Thank you for being here, Beth.

Always nice to see you.

Skyler Swisher writes about politics for the Orlando Sentinel.

Nice to see you, Skyler.

>>Thanks for having me on.

>>Thanks, everyone, for coming in.

Well, let's talk about these measures a little bit.

Beth, I'll start with you on this.

Obviously, it's pretty fluid, but I mean, what do we sort of know about wha the governor's been proposing?

And they align pretty closely right, with what the president has been suggesting he wants to do.

>>Right.

So the governor is essentially proposing that the state taking a much larger rol in immigration enforcement, this special session just ahead of this, he released kind of a bullet point list of thing that state lawmakers could do.

And these are things like making stat versions of immigration crimes that would allow the state to enforce those, also things that would make life harder for people who are here, undocumented, such as, no state in no in-state tuition to colleges and universities, some of the things that were just discussed.

And along with that, he's talking about ways he could enforce and make sure that local officials are carrying out, these laws if they actually come to fruition, such as removing local officials from office who comply.

And the governor has a history of doing that-- >>He showed his willingness to do that.

>>Yes.

And removing local official who are elected by local voters when those officials do something that the governor doesn't agree with.

>>The notion of creating stat versions of federal legislation is interestin because, of course, immigration is generally regarded as a federal issue.

I mean, that has been on the raw politics of this.

Skyler there has been significant GOP pushback, against the timing, I guess, a least of this special session.

I mean, what are the main concerns of GOP legislative leaders in Tallahassee?

Could they just decide to knock this on the head and deal with this issue of immigration a regular session?

>>Yeah.

So there's a very surprising memo that was sent ou by the legislative leaders.

And they said that they fee like this is premature, that it's irresponsible to, you know, get ahead of any sort of announcements that President Trump will make on immigration, that they haven't seen specific, policy items that the Trump administration wants states to act on.

But this is lik very surprising for for people who've been following the legislature-- >>Haven't seen this in recent years, have we?

>>Yeah.

I mean the governor has totally gotten his will with the legislature.

And a good example to look back at is, you know, abolishing the Reedy Creek, you know, Disney District.

You know, the governor called for that.

The legislature went into session, didn't ask a whole lot of questions, and just fell right into line and basically checked off every item on the governor's wish list.

So the fact that they're pushing back is, is very interesting and pretty significant.

>>On the policy, Brendan, on deportations.

I wonder if the governor can count on the support of local law enforcement.

I mean we saw there the, sheriffs of Polk County and Brevard Count standing side by side with him.

Generally speaking is he going to be able to count on local law enforcement officials do we think?

>>He certainly hopes he can.

As we have seen, he does have, quite a few sheriff in the state that, you know, are backing his policies.

But, you know, he wants local officials to detain and deport peopl that are living here illegally.

And as we've discussed, this is generally considered a federal issue.

That is why the special session is coming.

You know, so here is so that they can change those rules there.

But there's also some pushback.

Bob Gualtieri, fro the Pinellas County who chairs the Florida Sheriffs Association for the legislative chair there.

He says there's not much we can do here.

Right?

This is a federal issue.

We can't do much.

There's also been pushback from other sheriffs in places like Miami-Dade County saying they're going to lose trust in the community that they're trying to serve if they go to enforce these things.

So it's going to be difficult for him to get that support.

>>You mentioned, Brevard, State Senator Randy Fine of course, he's running for Congress in Volusia.

He had already proposed to end, in-state tuition for undocumented students.

That's an idea that the governor backs.

Last week, he added another proposal, as as it pertains to higher education, what's he calling for now?

>>So, what's added to this piece is not only would undocumented people not b eligible for in-state tuition, but certain colleges and universities, the most competitiv public universities in Florida would be off the table.

They wouldn't even be able to apply.

So I believe the threshold he said, was in, any university with an acceptance rate of 85% or less.

Of course, these would be the flagship universities for the state of Florida.

Would, you know, these students would no longer be eligible to attend.

>>Let me talk abou some of your reporting, Skyler, over the holidays, of course, as we know, a fight erupted, within Republican ranks over immigration, in particular, H-1b visas.

You've been doing some reporting on that division.

What have you been finding about how the H-1b issue particularly affects Florida?

>>Yeah.

So what we've kind of looked into this, did a deep dive.

And what we've found is that it's a nuanced issue.

You know, it, for instance I mean, you have, universities who use the H-1b, program to bring in researchers, professors, you know, the health care system relies on this program to addres shortages of nurses and doctors.

However, you know, Orlando and Disney in particular kind of became the poster child on this issue about ten years ago, because Disney, essentially laid off about 250, IT workers and had them train, foreign replacements that were employed by a third party company on H-1b visas.

So, I talked to one of those workers who's who was involved in the layoffs.

I talked to a attorney who represented him and other Disney workers.

And they say that these loopholes haven't been fixed.

And this program shouldn't be used to, layoff American workers and then replace them with foreign workers on H-1b visas who are earning less.

>>And that's been a pretty, common occurrence in, in Silicon Valley.

And, of course, Florida also has a a pretty burgeonin tech sector as well these days.

>>Exactly.

Yeah.

I mean, you can go through, the filings with the labor Department and yeah, it's software engineers, you know, data scientists, researchers, highly specialized jobs.

And and, I mean, it's a it's a whole range of companies.

I mean, iconic brands like, you know, Publix, for instance, is on the list.

Carnival cruises is on the list.

>>Yeah.

>>S there's yeah, a lot of employers are relying on this program to, to to bring in, you know, highly specialized, employees.

>>Is there some truth, do we think, to the push bac on the right that companies are just doing thi because they can pay people less and they're locked into those positions, right?

I mean, H-1b visas, you have to stay in that position.

>>Yeah.

I mean, I do think there's some truth to that, because if you look at the nationwide data, some of the, top firms with H-1b visas are outsourcing firms.

>>Yeah.

>>So essentially the way that the model works is that, let's say you want t engage in a cost saving effort.

You can essentially eliminate a department.

Let's say you're an IT department, then contract wit one of these outsourcing firms to bring in workers to d those jobs who are on contract.

And that is kind of the workaround.

And some of the provisions that are in the H-1 visa program that are intended to stop the program from being used to, you know, affect American workers.

>>It's really interesting.

I mean, given our demographics, I guess in, in our state, changes to immigration policy such as that, such as mass deportations could have a kin of an outsized effect, I guess.

>>In Florida, the number I've seen is that about 7% of children are living with at least one parent who is undocumented.

And so that gives you a sens of what some of these policies that are being talked abou right now could do in the state of Florida, as you know, that the new president has, basically proposed to end birthright citizenship.

That's another one of these, topics that's getting a lot of buzz-- >>Constitutionally challenged, of course.

>>Right.

It certainly will be challenged.

Folks say that it's protected by the 14th amendment of the Constitution.

Trump's administration is saying, well, that hasn't really been interpreted, for sure.

>>And that uncertainty we're already starting to see that here.

We had some reporting this week that, you know, immigration attorneys and nonprofits that help this community have seen an increase in calls up to like 20% as of as of this week, just just in the first week of these executive orders.

>>It's going to be a lot to watch in the next week or so early in the session.

A reminder, we are recording this program on Thursday morning, so things can change by air time, especially with a fast moving story.

Meanwhile, you can find Krystel's full length interview with Michael Binder from the University of North Florida on our website, wucf.org/newsnight.

Well, let's talk about how the Trump administration is changing the political landscap in Florida.

On Monday, the US Senate confirme Marco Rubio, 99 to 0, as the next secretary of state in the Trump administration.

He was sworn in on Tuesday at the White House.

>>President Trump was elected to keep promises, and he's going to keep those promises.

And his primary promise when it comes to foreign policy is that the priority of the United States Department of State will be the United States.

It will be furthering the national interest of this country.

And he's given us a very clear mandate.

President Trump has made it very clear everything we do, and this is true in government, but especially at the Department of State, everything we do must be justified by the answer to 1 or 3 questions.

Does it make us stronger?

Does it make us safer, and does it make us more prosperous?

If it doesn't do one of thos three things, we will not do it.

And so that is the goal and that is the task.

And that is the promise that he was elected to keep.

And that is the promise he will keep.

And we will help him keep.

>>Rubio's confirmation as Secretary of State means Florida's attorney general, Ashley Moody, becomes Florida's new U.S. senator.

>>What has angered me the most as attorney general, as I have had to fight the Biden administration over the last four years, we have seen policy after policy after rule, after financial decisio spending out of these agencies as the agencies have gotten bigger, as they have taken more power, as they have tried to tell the states what to do, more and more and more.

All that does is take the will of the people, the want of the people through their elected representatives in Congress, and turns this into a countr we don't even recognize anymore.

And whether it's agencies making these decisions when lawmakers should unelected bureaucrats or whether it's international organizations making decisions that our lawmakers should, we cannot stand for that.

The only way to return this country to the people, the people who govern it, is to make sure we hav a strong Congress doing its job, passing laws and actually approving the regulations that these unelected bureaucrats are trying to cram down on the American people.

>>Now Senator Ashley Moody speaking there.

Well, Ashley Moody has had a pretty, lively tenure, I should say, as attorney general, what should people know about her record and sort of how it might shape her time in Washington?

>>Yeah.

So Ashley Mood is definitely a Trump loyalist.

You know, she, has, argued in favor of abortio bans.

She's argue against recreational marijuana.

She's challenged, you know, the Biden administration's, you know, vaccine regulations.

So I think we should expect someone who's going to be, you know, deeply in lockstep with, with President Trump.

>>And Governor DeSantis picked his chie of staff, right, James Uthemeier to take over the role as attorney general.

I mean, what stands out to you from that pick?

>>You know, Uthemeier is very close to governor DeSantis.

I mean, he, managed his presidential campaign.

He was very involve in kind of the migrant flights.

So, you know, I don't think we're going to see any sort of, departure from what we saw with Ashley Mood when she was in that position.

>>Let's just briefly talk about Florida's former attorney general, Pam Bondi.

Brendan, she's awaiting confirmation to be the next, U.S. attorney general.

Did we learn anything from he confirmation hearing last week about how she might go about doing that job?

We obviously know how she did the job in Florida.

What do we think?

>>Yeah, she's she's stressed that she wouldn't play politic with with the Justice Department or pursue anyone for political reasons.

But she was fiercely loya to Trump, you know, repeating some campaign rhetori that that he'd use, you know, refused to say that that Trump los the election, alluded to voter fraud, called for the investigation against Trump a as a political win, witch hunt.

But she did say she's going to approach things on a case by case basis.

It seems like she definitely has Republican support, unsurprisingly, does not have support from from Democrats there.

But we'll see how that confirmation goes.

>>Yeah, certainly political watchers seem to think that it's likely she gets confirmed, given that the previous nominee was, Matt Gates.

The other cascading effect, of course, for Florida, is those two congressional races, Skyler that now we're underway voting, I think is already taking place, in district six to replace Mike Waltz.

He's, President Trump's national security advisor, Senator Randy Fine who we talked about before, has President Trump's endorsement.

Where does that race stand at the moment?

>>So, you know, Senator Fine is kind of the clear cut favorite here.

I mean, he has President Trump's endorsement.

He has Mike Waltz's endorsement.

There are two, Republican challengers in the primary.

They're kind of longshot candidates.

You know, the Democrats are hoping that maybe they can pull an upset, in the, in the April 1st general special election.

>>Unlikely, right?

It's very unlikely with the Republican friendly district.

>>Very Republican friendly district.

So, very unlikely.

I mean, they're going to make their best effort, but, definitely, Senato Fine is a heavy favorite there.

>>And of course, all this means that the potential when you take into account district one as well in the Panhandle that the sort of potential field of candidates to run fo governor is narrowing somewhat.

Brandon.

Yeah, that's right.

Everyone we talked about was a contender for that, you know, before this.

And now it has been narrowed.

You know, it's looking like Representative Brian Donalds from southwest Florida, is going to put his name in the hat-- >>Is something of a rising figure and-- >>Yeah, rising figure.

He's he's a Trump loyalist as well.

He had already planned to jump into the race at this point.

But now, as we mentioned, there's really not too many other big names in there.

So he's got a good shot.

>>Those are the federal and state races.

But of course, there are important local elections to watch.

Beth, the Winter Park Commission, races for March.

We already know the outcome of one of them.

>>We do in one of the races.

One person filed in the entir city of 30,000 people.

So that person was automaticall elected to an open seat just this past Tuesday when the qualifying period ended.

So brand new commissioner, somebody who's never served in elected office before, but has served and is currently on Winter Park's planning and zoning commission, so does have some experience, and seem to have broad support in the city based on his, financial contributions so far.

That's, Warren Lindsay.

He's well know as a criminal defense attorney.

There is a contest for the other seat that's up for election, this time around.

And, incumbent Kris Cruzada who served since 2022, is facing, Justin Vermut another, resident in the city.

He's also an attorney just like, Commissioner Cruzada is, Vermuth is, serves as the lobbyist for a local timeshare.

Actually, it's a national, timeshare industry group.

>>Yeah.

We'll put a link to your reporting on our website as well, s people can read more about this.

These are nonpartisan races, right.

But of course, partisan politics often tends to leak into these local campaigns.

>>Oh, very much.

You know, we saw that even, in the fall when, several county commission races for were, extremely heated.

We saw a lot of party money and, you know, help volunteering, canvasing, all of those things, build up in those races that can happen on the in the, city races as well.

A lot of voters want to know what the party affiliation, affiliation of, of these candidates are.

And so I always try to include that in the reporting.

I think more information i always a good thing for voters.

And I think, you know we have to mention, too, that, really, all politics is local, right?

So just in Winter Park, you know, it's one of the smaller towns in Central Florida.

We've seen a prominent Republican state senator insert himsel into multiple issues in the city and, try to preempt policies.

Yes, leaf blowers.

And then even more recently, the same senator, it's Jaso Brodeur out of Seminole County, but he does represent Winter Park.

He he sent an emai to his constituents regarding, the addition of a home to th Winter Park Historic Register.

It was the at home belongin to a sitting, city commissioner.

A lot of people raised a stink about it.

That home followed the normal process.

But it just goes to show you that, you know, some of these issues, even on the very local level, become polluted.

>>And we see a lot more mone pouring into these local races.

But the interesting part, and you alluded to it there, is that we are seeing a lot of races nowadays where there are very few people going for these offices.

>>That's right.

It's not you know, like I mentioned, Warren Lindsay is just elected because nobody else qualified for the seat that happened.

I believe it was last cycle or the cycle before there were two incumbents in Winter Park who were reelected without opposition.

So.

And I have seen that across Central Florida in the towns, you know, over, over a number of years, it's not uncommon for these races to be fairly uncompetitive, or for ther to not be a challenger at all.

And even in that, you know, and it's not just the it's not just the smaller, more suburban towns.

Look at the city of Orlando.

Orlando Mayor Budd Dyer has been in office for 20 something years without, much of a serious challenge.

>>As I said, we'll put a link to that, on our website.

Be sure t join the conversation, meanwhile, on social media we're at WUCF TV, on Facebook and Instagram.

You'll also find us on X @NewsNightWUCF.

But that's all the time we have for this week.

My thanks to Brendan Byrne Beth Kassab and Skyler Swisher.

Thank you guys so much for coming in.

>>Thank you >>Really interesting discussion.

We'll see you next Friday night at 8:30 here on WUCF.

In the meantime, from all of us here at NewsNight.

Take care and have a great week.