Recently, El Nuevo Herald reported on opposition to Florida Senate Bill 168 (SB 168) from Mexico’s Consul General in Miami Jonathan Chait Auerbach. The new law expressly prohibits sanctuary cities in the state of Florida. SB 168 was signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis on June 14 and became effective as of July 1.
Consul General Auerbach’s voiced his concern about SB 168 as it pertains to immigrants of Mexican origin residing in Florida, "In that sense for us it is very important to attend them and have them located. For this we have mobile consulates, we move to the places where we have the highest concentration of population of Mexican origin. The idea is to bring all the services that are given in the consulate. Many are afraid to travel by this law." A function of the Miami Mexican Consulate is to render legal advice for immigrants, regardless of legal status.
SB 186’s additional provisions require local governments in the jurisdiction of Florida to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and other federal authorities to the best of their abilities. Specifically, honoring detainer requests by ICE to local jails holding illegal aliens on local or state criminal offenses. Growing public safety concerns about sanctuary policies has led other states to take similar legislative actions. Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed SB 4 in May of 2017 and in April of this year, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson signed SB 411 into law. Both laws ban sanctuary cities.