>>This wee on NewsNight, Florida lawmakers passed legislation to ai the Trump administration's immigration policies while rejecting proposal from the governor.

Plus, professors from thre state universities challenge Florida's restrictions on DE initiatives in higher education.

NewsNight starts now.

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

First tonight, this week's clash in Tallahassee over immigration.

Governor DeSantis had called a special session to pass legislation aimed at aiding in the Trump administration's deportation efforts, tackling condo fees and shaking up the citizen ballot initiative process.

But flexin the legislature's independence, Republican leaders in the House and Senate rejected the governor's proposals in stark terms.

They instead called their own special session, passing an alternate $500 million immigration bill to, quote, supplement, not replac the federal government, unquote, on immigration enforcement.

All other issues were shunte to the regular session in March.

>>No way, no how.

>>In a public rebuke dissecting the governor's bill on immigration, GOP House and Senate leader describe the governor's proposed measures as well-intentioned but bureaucratic.

>>We do not need to duplicate the functions of U.S. immigration and customs an create a mini version of ICE.

In addition, his proposals would hijack loca law enforcement operations.

And at one point, he even proposed arresting local la enforcement officers themselves.

>>In filing their ow bill, House Speaker Daniel Perez and other top Republicans hit out at a pressure campaign to get legislators to back the governor.

>>In the last week, attempts have been mad to bully members of this House, including sending out mass emails and text messages with member's personal cell phone numbers on them.

Attacks on this body, attacks o all of you, are not acceptable.

This house will never be moved by threats.

>>Republican leaders say their bill, dubbed "The Trump Act" puts Florida in lock step with the new administration, empowering Florida law enforcement to work seamlessly with ICE.

>>I want to be carefu that we don't do anything to undermine President Trump' very good plan.

I won't stand for that.

>>GOP leaders say they, quote, requested and receive technical assistance from the White House on the legislation passed by lawmakers.

It shifts state level immigration enforcement authority from the governo to the agriculture commissioner, who will have an expanded role.

The bill also beefs up penalties for undocumented immigrants who commit crimes in Florida, allows for rewards for law enforcement officers working with federal immigration authorities, and financial penalties for local governments who stand in the way.

It also ends in-state tuition for undocumented students at state universities and colleges in Florida.

>>What we have in this bill is we've created a not the not the perfect plan, but certainl in this special session with what we've come up with, a very good plan for the state of Florida to follow.

But the legislation rejects several of governor DeSantis' proposals, including a ban on remittances, no bail for undocumented immigrants who are arrested, and an expansion of transport of unauthorized immigrants to other countries.

The governor blasted the changes to his proposals as bizarre after threatening to veto the bill.

He took aim at his critics at a roundtable in Titusville on Wednesday.

>>Why go to the ag commissioner?

Put him in charge?

Why weaken E-Verify and put that in with the ag commissioner when we kno those guys have never supported E-Verify for employment verification to begin with?

And I think the answer is, is, is that they want this to b weaker than, than current law.

And they think that if they window dress it one way, that you guys won't hold them accountable for it.

But this is not what they campaigned on.

This is not what they told their constituents they would do.

This does not solve the problem that we have with illegal immigration in this state or in this country.

>>Democrats, for their part, broadly rejected the Republican efforts to back President Trump's deportation efforts and filed several amendments that failed to garner GOP support.

>>The motivation b those in charge is to demonize immigrants is to highligh these tragic stories where someone is killed by an immigrant while ignoring the statistics of wher majority of crimes are committed and how they're committed and who commits them.

And so it's really important for us to stick to the facts, to not fall victim to sensationalism and misinformation, and t center on the reality before us.

The immigration system is federal policy, that it is criminally broken.

And as a result we have a situation in Florida where our biggest industrie are reliant on immigrant labor.

Some documented some mixed status and some with outdated documentation or no documentation at all.

That is a real problem that we should address.

But the notion of demonizing every immigrant of of criminalizing those who are paying taxes in our state while contributing to our economy.

It's un-American.

It's wrong.

It's a distraction from the countless issues in front of us interact with the cost of living.

And that's where we should be focusing our energy on.

Representative Anna Eskamani there.

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

Joining us in the studio this week, Stephen Lemongello writes about politics for the Orlando Sentinel.

Good to see you.

>>Happy to be here.

>>Busy time for you, I'm sure.

>>Yes, yes.

>>Stephanie Rodriguez, fo the first time from WKMG News 6.

Thanks for coming in, Stephanie.

>>Thank you for inviting us.

>>Good to see you and favorite of the show.

Curtis McCloud, Spectrum News 13.

Thanks for being here.

>>Yeah, always a pleasure.

>>Good to see you today.

To note, as of this recording, the governor has threatened to veto the bill passed by the legislature.

We tape the show on Thursday morning, so of course, things can change by air time.

I just wanted to start with a question, to each of you about what stands out to you in this bill and, Steve, I'll start with you.

>>Yeah.

It's just it's a very interesting as the, as it said that they would go against DeSantis so, so heavily, especially after after you know, six years of basicall just following his line, doing what they doing what he says.

Some real, real pushback here.

And I think it's just a case of, you know, DeSantis will be around for two more years in the governor's mansion.

And, President Trump will be there for four years, and they're just looking to see what their wher their bread is buttered.

>>Yeah.

I want to talk a little bit more about the politics in a moment.

What stood out to you, Stephanie?

>>Well, for me, the students, you know, the dreamers, them not being able to get in-state tuition.

If this does become a law here in Florida, we've heard from student that it's almost triple the amount that they're paying now under the la that they would pay per credit.

So for me that was something that definitely stood out.

>>Curtis?

>>I think for me, it kind of it was very interesting to see kind of you look at DeSantis wanting to the, the, the bill to be more in line with, the federal government and Trump's and Trump's what President Trump wants to see happen.

But it was interestin to see the legislature say, hey, you know we want to take this, this plan, this roadmap and make it fit to what the state needs.

>>Yeah.

>>S it's very interesting.

>>Yeah.

Well, as I said, we'll discuss the politics in a moment.

But I want to look at some of the specifics of the bill, which we'll link to on the website so you can read it for yourself by the way wucf.org/newsnight.

That's along the botto of your screen.

Democrats unsuccessfull attempted to eliminate a measure that would revoke in-state tuition for immigrant students, as Stephanie just mentioned, at public universities, and entered the country - who entered the country illegally.

Let's hear from Orlando Democratic Representative Anna Eskamani and committee followed by Brevard Republican Senator Randy Fin speaking to NewsNight last week.

>>These are kid that are, in my opinion, so incredibly patriotic, an they love this country so much.

And it's not their faul they don't have status.

They had to go to a Florida high school in order to qualify for this.

It's the only country they know.

And for us to basically say that you're not going to be able to afford to go to college again, it just it just feels very political and not done in the best interest of our state's economy, little in the best interests of our kids.

And this is a legislatur that thinks kids should be kids.

And here we are treating a child differently just because of their origin.

>>Why should an illegal immigrant get a lower price to go to our colleges and universities in America 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.

>>Senator Fine there.

We should note Senator Fine easily won his primary in the Florida Congressional District 6 this week.

Representative Eskamani say there are nearly 7,000 dreamers in Florida state college and universities, including UCF.

WUCF, of course, is licensed to the University of Central Florida.

Steve, let me start with you on this one.

What does this mean for people who potentially want to get in-state tuition or who are currently studying that have a waiver at the moment?

>>Yeah.

If you're, undocumented immigrants, that those in-state tuition waivers are gone July 1st.

So, you know, you could be like, you know, a year away from graduation and you'd have to sort of scramble to figure out what you're going to do.

I just want to say this was something this, you know, in-state tuition for, waivers for undocumented, that this was something that was introduced by, lieutenant governor, then, you know, in the legislature, Jeanette Nunez-- >>Who's backed away from that.

>>Yeah.

Who's now was she was a very in favor of this, you know, 13 years ago, Governor Rick Scott signed it, 13 years ago.

But she's now, you know, she's gone along with the rest of the Republican Party.

She's backed away from it.

She put out a statement saying that, it served its purpose, which, I don't know if you know what specifically changed in terms of, you know, a past 13 years in terms of, you know, students needing education.

But, you know, that's seems to be how it is.

>>It was a bipartisan effort, a decade ago.

Stephanie, yoursel and your colleagues at news six have been getting reaction to this from students.

What are you guys hearing?

>>They say it's a step in the wrong direction.

You know, on Tuesday, there was a mock graduation that they held at Hope Community Center, and the students were there in caps and gowns sharing their stories, talking about the topic.

They say that this waiver is not an incentive for immigration and just to deny them this opportunity to get affordable schooling and things like that is just denying them an education, which will get them into the workforce, which will incentivize, you know, the economy and things like that.

It's just denying them their dream is what they're saying.

And they also are pleadin with the government to see them as people, as students not as their immigration status.

>>And of course, Democrats say that the state has already invested a lot in K through 12 education for these students so it makes sense to continue to d so when it comes to higher ed.

Well, let's discuss the deportations part.

Now.

Here' Central Florida State Senator, Democrat Carlos Guillermo Smith, on Tuesday night on the Trump administration allowing immigration raids in schools and how tha might be carried out in Florida.

>>We are seeing incident where even student enrollment is declining in our public school because parents are afraid to send their kids to school because they believe that immigration enforcement is going to start taking place in those public schools.

I share those concerns.

Some of our elected leaders share these concerns so much that even in the district I represent in Orlando and Orange County, Orange County Public Schools has already shared guidance from their legal counsel with administrators about what they are supposed to do and what protocol they're supposed to go through if an ICE agent shows up to the school.

>>Senator Carlos Guillermo Smith there.

Stephanie, let me start with you on this one.

News 6 has been looking at how school districts, not just in Orange County, that he referred to there, but across the region, plan to handl the possibility of enforcement.

What do we know so far?

>>News 6 did reach out to all of the districts in our area, and they're all saying similar things, that they do not track undocumented students, bu they will comply with the law.

We heard Carlos Guillermo Smith there say that Orange Count has already sent out guidance.

Osceola County has also done that.

Volusia Count is working on creating a policy.

So they're thinking about this and having that possibility already in the works.

And we're also hearing from immigration advocates that families are talkin to their students, telling them this is the script to say, if you are encountered, say you won't talk to them without a lawyer, without your parents, or plead the fifth.

>>The governor stood alongside, the sheriffs of Brevard and Polk County.

He does that from time to time.

Do we know how the while he was talking about immigration, do we know ho the sheriffs statewide a feeling about being part of this enforcement process?

>>Yeah, and that's the thing here, Steve, we got to look at with and covers the Florida Sheriffs Association.

Most of them are in in line with what legislators are doing with the legislature is doing.

And they agree wit there needs to be some sort of, you know, rule and laws on the book when it comes to enforcing you know, immigration.

But what they say here is, you know, we want something in place here, but let us do it.

That works with the state.

It goes back to what legislatures are.

The legislature legislators are saying here, you know, not everything.

Yeah, things are going on at the federal level.

But some of those things don't work for Florida.

And we want to work on a workable system, a workable plan, and a plan of action for for the state of Florida.

>>Bearing in mind we are recording this on Thursday morning, of course, the governor governor's expected to veto this, right?

>>Yeah.

He said the pen is ready, which is not surprisin given that he's been on a media tour talking about his disdain for it.

Says it's too weak.

He said if it comes to his desk, he will reject it.

And if that happens, the legislature could override the veto.

But it might be hard given that they need a two thirds majority and six Republican senators voted against it.

>>You know what I was going t say really quickly about that?

I'm just listening to and there are there are some talks between Republicans and Democrats on how can we find common ground on all of this?

One of the sticking point is, of course, the battle over the in-state tuition for dreamers.

And I think that will probably be the issue that the most where we'll see the division, they won't come together, Republicans and Democrats on that to override the governor's veto.

>>And it does seem, though, that the Democrats and Republicans are pretty far apart.

Several Republicans, though Steve did oppose the bill from leadership in Tallahassee, but most sided with the House speaker and Senate President.

What do you think?

And I guess this goes to what you alluded to before about what this says about that relationship between the governor and lawmakers and also the agriculture commissioner going forward I mean the governor's bee pretty tough on Wilton Simpson.

>>Yeah in his cabinet they sit together at those meetings, like, every month.

Yeah.

It's like mentioned before.

There was just a lot of, hard feelings, both in the last six years about, you know, DeSantis basically just, you know, really just, you know, I don't say ruling by fiat, but like what he said the Republicans did and also a lot of bad feelings about, obviously, DeSantis challenge of President Trump for the Republican nomination of a few years back, like the last session, last year, was sort of on the heels of DeSanti dropping out, endorsing Trump.

So that was still sort of ongoing.

Now we're about a year in.

DeSantis has two years left.

President Trump just got inaugurated.

So I think a lot of Republicans are just, you know, they might have, you know, anything they've, you know, not likes about DeSantis.

And now he's done things you know, even personally, over the last six years, now's the time they feel feels the time they can come out and do it now.

They can oppose him.

I know there's renewed opposition and talk about looking into, DeSantis', you know, communications staff who have been, like, vitriolic against people for the last six years-- >>Senato Fine has made that a priority.

>>Yes, there is Fine who we just heard from.

Yeah.

Now those people are going against fellow Republicans over this bill and, you know, just it's just sort of entrenching those those bad feelings.

I want to move on and talk about something that took place this week that's important locally on the federal level.

Stephanie, this is, the Trump administration revoking the extension of temporary protected status.

And we've talked about TPS extensively on this program.

This is for Venezuelans living in the United States.

Florida has the largest numbe of Venezuelans in the country, most in central and south Florida.

You've reported on this community.

How is this community feeling?

>>Well, they're feeling the pressure.

600,000 people could be deported.

They feel persecuted.

You know, they don't want to go back to Venezuela because they feel unsafe an unstable under Nicolas Maduro.

And even if they want it to go back, they feel like they would be persecuted there for their political beliefs.

I spoke yesterday with the founder of Casa de Venezuela, which is a loca immigration advocacy group here.

You know, for them, because they were so activ in getting TPS for Venezuelans when it was going through the system, and they got it in 2021.

It's a even more devastating blow for them.

They are in kind of a panic because they don't know what to do, how they can help.

They had a big meeting with all of their national chapters, with lawyers, with Congress people, anyone who can help.

There were even priests there because they want to figure out the next steps.

And they say that their phones have not stopped ringing because people are concerned.

>>And of course, a lot of Venezuelans flow to Florida, starting in the Hugo Chavez years, correct.

Because of the economic and security issues in that country that doesn't seem to improve.

And in fact, it's worsened to a certain degree.

>>And that's one of the things that the Casa de Venezuela founder tells me.

He says, we know that the situatio in Venezuela has not improved, and the U.S. government also recognizes that.

So they're confused as to why they would removed TPS protections for them.

Given that nothing has changed in Venezuela and has actually gotten worse.

>>Well, we'll keep watching and I'm sure you guys will too what's happening on the federal level and how that might affect people in our region.

You can find a copy of the bil passed in the special session this week on our website wucf.org/newsnight.

Meanwhile tell us what you think about it all, we're at WUCF TV on Facebook and Instagram.

You'll also find us @NewsNightWUCF on X.

Okay, next tonight a group of university professors has initiated a federal lawsui challenging a 2023 Florida law that limits funding fo diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI programs at highe education institutions.

SB 266 blocked state universities from spending taxpayer money for DEI programs, or the promotion of political or social activism, changes hiring practices and allows tenure to be reviewed at any time.

Opponents argue it undermines academic freedom and free speech.

The ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of the professors who teach at Florida International University, the University of Florida and Florida State.

Jerry Edwards is a staf attorney at the ACLU of Florida.

>>What we foun is that the law is preventing, you know, debates, pane discussions.

It's, preventing scholars from being able to go to conference and talking about, say, pro-DEI viewpoints or criticizing the laws that prevent discussion of diversity, equity, inclusion.

Additionally student groups are being chilled and their ability to discuss these sorts of things.

And so really, what is happening in terms of the DEI funding restriction is that it's silencing important discussions and important debates that should be happening on university campuses outside of the classroom and things that really characterize the higher education environment.

Known for free inquiry, free discussion and debating of controversial ideas.

>>A reminder, once again that WUCF is licensed to the University of Central Florida.

Steve, let me start with you on, on this legislation, it basically built on the 2022 Stop Woke Act, right?

That was part of the governor's kind of laser focus on education back in those years.

Just remind us to start of with what SB 266 actually did.

>>Sure.

Yeah.

It's, it bans funding for programs or campus activities that advocate for diversity equity and inclusion.

DEI And there's a very lon description of what DEI is, and it can't be used i anything in any, in any class.

So basically it's, it's, you know, DEI following CRT and all the various letter that-- >>Critical Race Theory.

>>Has been, going against the last few years.

Yeah, is very sweeping.

>>I mean, the governo has focused a lot on education.

It's fair to say that's been a sort of a, a cornerstone of his administration.

>>Yeah.

You know we see what's happening with the the national level with DEI now, but, that that all really started here in, in Florida.

You know, DeSantis was a sort of like a the forefront of that.

>>Yeah.

Florida has been sort of something of an incubator of conservative policy, for sure.

Professors are suing, the state university system' board of governors and trustees of those, three universities where the professors work.

What are the main arguments that are being presented in that lawsuit there Curtis?

>>We'l see what it comes down to Steve.

It is it comes down to a matter of, of, free speech and free thinking on these college campuses-- >>Seems to be what we heard from the ACLU there.

>>Eactly And that's the crux of it here.

And that's where they are.

That's where their argument is, is kind of it' kind of structure in that vein.

You're saying that, hey, we want to be able to provide you know, thought provoking communities and also free thinking.

And when you have these rules in place and you don't allow, money to flow for some of these efforts, then it diminishes that freedom for people to have those conversations and those discussions and those take those course loads that they want, because there are certain there are certain lines that you have to have to straddle.

And they also say that the that the legislation isn't clear, it's not very clear here.

And it's kind of ambiguous.

>>Yeah.

And they say that puts a sort of a that squelches ability to tackle issues.

If they're unsure.

>>If if they're unsure.

And it puts the professor in a precarious situation here because you have to be very careful what you're saying and how you say it.

Even let's say if a course is approved.

But what you say in the course, in how you say may offend someone or may rub someone the wrong, the wrong, the wrong way.

We've seen it happen on the local level, even in the classrooms of, different, different school systems here whether it be Orange, Osceola-- >>K through 12.

>>Yeah, K through 12.

We've seen it happen here, where teachers have to be very careful about what they sa because they could be reported in and essentially lose their job dismissed because something is said to make an individual feel, feel out of place or it bothers them.

>>Of course, the DeSantis administration would push back and say, this isn't about squelching free speech.

It's about, not indoctrinating students.

Of course.

Stephanie, an interesting part of this is, is the judge in the case.

He tossed, an earlier lawsuit against the same law in 2023.

That was a lack of standing by the plaintiffs.

What are those suing this time, say is the direct impact, which I guess is what you have to show from this legislation on their work.

>>Yeah, they say it's viewpoint discrimination and that, like Curtis said, because there's no funding for DEI initiatives.

They're impeding academic research, which is what many colleg professors do when they're in university.

That's a lot of them ban their careers on that.

They're passionate about that.

So that is impedin their livelihood at that point and stifling student voices, which is what when we think of colleges and university students go there, like you mentioned, free thought to learn to learn ideas that they would otherwise not be exposed to.

So they're really saying that they cannot do their job the way that they that their job descriptio allows them to because of this.

>>What have we heard, Steve, from higher education institutions, has there been much in the way of pushback?

Was it pretty much fallen into line?

>>So far still a lot of falling into line, like FIU, for example.

They got rid of a lot of courses that had to do with like gender and LGBT and things like that, which is, you know, and a professor was arguing you know, can you simply just not talk about that stuff anymore?

Like, you know, you can't classify people by, you know, race or gender or things like that.

Well, you know, how how do you talk about certain things?

How do you talk about history how do you talk about a lot of, you know, life without doing that?

So, yeah.

And it just, so we're seeing that there, you know, and then also a lot of, you know, other institutions around the state.

>>I mean, certainly attorneys say that when it comes to First Amendment stuff and what you can say, you really do need clarity in the law.

Let me finish with you, Stephanie governor DeSantis, as we said, is sort of been a leading issue and a leading voice on this issue on the right.

It was a key part of his presidential run.

But I wonder where public opinion stands on DEI now, especially as I guess it played or is playing a substantial role in the new Trump administration?

>>Absolutely.

I mean, Fox News did a poll in December before the president was inaugurated, and they found that one third of the voters that they hold were in favor of the president removing DEI from the government.

But of course, that means that two thirds of the people that they pulled were not for it.

And personally, I've seen just a lot of sentiment on social media of people not kind of understanding what exactly DEI means and what that umbrella term covers.

So there's groups that didn't believe that they were under DEI that are now feeling targeted.

>>Is that what you're hearing Curtis?

>>Yeah.

That's the I was going to say that's the big part.

A lot of this is you hear DEI and people don't understand exactly what it is.

And some people try to relate it to affirmative action.

And I think there are some blurred understandings on what it is and who it encompasses.

A lot of times you hear o black and white and you don't.

People get so confused as to what it means and who it impacts, and that there's so much more broad than what's at - what's at play and what's being discussed.

>>The distinguishing between affirmative action and DEI is sometimes-- >>Civil rights.

Like, there was a revocation of a Lyndon Johnson 196 order about, nondiscrimination.

So it's it's going way back.

>>Oh it's a fascinating conversation.

I'm sure it's on we'll be having going forward.

You can find a copy of the complaint on our website to read for yourself.

wucf.org/newsnight but that is all the time we have for this week.

My thanks to Stephen Lemongello from the Orlando Sentinel, Stephanie Rodriguez, WKMG News 6, Curtis McCloud, Spectrum News 13.

Thanks so much for coming in, guys.

Really interesting conversation today.

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.