JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Two Jacksonville City Council members filed proposals Wednesday meant to crack down on illegal immigration at the local level.
One would block illegal immigrants from using city services; the other would provide resources for police.
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Action News Jax’s Annette Gutierrez spoke with both Councilman Rory Diamond and Councilman Kevin Carrico about the reasoning behind these bills.
They said they want to double down on the federal initiatives aimed at tackling illegal immigration.
These bills come after we learned on Monday that Jacksonville Sheriff TK Waters will serve on a newly established immigration enforcement council created by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Read: ‘Now I have a voice’: Jacksonville sheriff joins statewide illegal immigration crackdown
“What it comes down to is safety, and the idea of the bill is to create a place where people follow the laws,” Carrico said.
Carrico’s proposed legislation states the city will fund the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office with 25 fingerprint readers to help the agency accurately identify undocumented immigrants.
“These are mobile fingerprint readers that can identify someone really quickly, see if they’re registered in the system, see if they’ve already been detained elsewhere and if they’ve already committed crimes and are here illegally,” Carrico said.
Carrico said officers will only be using this on people detained for crimes, but they have a right to check peoples’ legal status.
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“It’s a right to be in this country,” Carrico said. “If you’re from another country, so if you come to this country legally, you can achieve the American dream, but if not, and you come to this country to commit crimes and provide fentanyl and do bad things, then there’s going to be consequences.”
Meanwhile, the other bill targets millions of dollars in city resources.
Diamond’s proposed ordinance states that taxpayer money cannot be used on anyone who is in the country – and city – illegally.
He said this includes homeless shelters, food services, and job assistance.
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Diamond said he wants to keep Jacksonville from becoming a sanctuary city.
“It just says if we’re paying the taxes, it should go to people from Jacksonville,” Diamond said.
The bill said the city has to verify if recipients of services are legal, and if they aren’t, Diamond said JSO has the right to arrest them.
“It made me feel really queasy,” immigration attorney Rebecca Black said.
Black says this could lead to more racial profiling
She said she is worried about how this could affect people seeking asylum.
“There is no visa that somebody from Honduras, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Cuba could apply for that would provide them entry to come here and seek work
Carrico said the increased budget for JSO will help allow the agency to hire more corrections officers since more people will likely be arrested because of this act.
The mayor’s office told us tonight, they have not read the bills yet, so they could not comment.
You can read Diamond’s proposed legislation below:
You can read more about Carrico’s proposed “Jacksonville Illegal Immigration Enforcement Act” below:
Cvp Carrico Jiiea by ActionNewsJax on Scribd
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