Migrants surge into state, DeSantis imports college reformers, and an NFL trifecta

Happy New Year and welcome to the first 2023 edition of Politics and Policy in the Sunshine State. It’s Monday, Jan. 9, and we’ve got lots of ground to cover.

But first: Florida is playoff bound! The Sunday trifecta means that all three Florida NFL teams have made it to the playoffs. The last time the Dolphins, Bucs and Jaguars all held playoff berths was the 1999-2000 season (Dan Marino’s last year. )

On to politics.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

Migrant influx: At the same time Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was giving his inaugural speech and congratulating the state for being a magnet for in-migration, 650 miles away the Florida Keys were also a magnet — for migrants arriving by boat.

More than 130 people from Haiti arrived off Key Largo in an overloaded sailboat on Tuesday. The previous weekend, more than 500 Cubans had arrived in the sparsely inhabited islands off Key West. The influx was so severe, the federal government was forced to close Dry Tortugas National Park. Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay called it a “federal failure” that is “creating a humanitarian crisis.”

Biden crackdown: President Joe Biden announced on Thursday that his administration will increase expulsions of undocumented migrants at the border and expand a parole program already in place for Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans.

Advocates slam new rules: With desperation driving this surge, immigration advocates and human rights groups warned the new border policies announced by the Biden administration will block asylum access and harm poor migrants.

DeSantis activates guard: By Friday, DeSantis had declared a state of emergency, saying the surge in migrant arrivals in the Florida Keys is “likely to constitute a major disaster” and called on the Florida National Guard to respond to the situation.

Hundreds turned back: The Florida National Guard presence was slow to arrive over the weekend as federal officials handled most of the travelers. The U.S. Coast Guard sent more than 200 migrants back to Cuba after the their boats were stopped before they reached U.S. shores.

On Sunday morning, 53 migrants were reported by the U.S. Border Patrol, including 25 Cubans who arrived by boat in Marathon. Their landing spot was Sister Creek, the site of the federal government’s Radio Martí radio tower, which broadcasts Spanish-language programming to Cuba in an effort to promote democracy and freedom of the press on the island.

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

A state of ‘normalcy’: After being sworn in for a second term as Florida’s 46th governor on the steps of the Historic Capitol, DeSantis reiterated his pledge to combat the “woke mob” and touted his achievements over the last four years. He gave a mostly boilerplate denunciation of his political opponents, proclaimed that “freedom lives” in Florida and avoided any mention of Florida-specific problems facing the state. “We seek normalcy, not philosophical lunacy,” he said. “Florida is where woke goes to die.”

DeSantis has positioned himself on the national stage as a likely front-runner for the Republican nomination for president in 2024, but that requires him to launch a campaign for a new job while barely into the four-year term for his current one.

Aiming for national audience: Aware of his potential political prospects, the governor used his inaugural speech to straddle both statewide and national political worlds, pivoting from a roll call of his accomplishments to an indictment against other states and a robust critique of the federal government.

The two-day affair, organized by a group of former campaign staffers along with the Republican Party of Florida, also was among the most exclusive and least transparent of any governor’s inauguration in the last three decades.

VIP woes: DeSantis’ inauguration started on time and ended nearly an hour ahead of schedule. VIP tickets were oversold and top donors were forced to stand. At the inaugural ball hours later, the organizers continued to run into unplanned snags. VIP ticket holders waited in long lines to show a photo ID and pass through a security check-in. The special section for high-value donors was elbow-to-elbow, and photos with the governor and first lady were cut short before everyone could have their picture taken.

Few headlines: The governor’s speech promised “we are far from done” but also offered no insight into specific initiatives he intends to pursue in his second term. He instead released details on proposals throughout the week, a strategy that supplied more of the Fox News audience that he lost on Tuesday as the network focused on the marathon vote for House speaker.

New look coming to New College: By the end of the week, DeSantis garnered national headlines when he appointed a group of hard-line conservative loyalists to leadership positions at the New College of Florida, which has a reputation for being one of the most progressive higher-education institutions in the state. Several of the six appointees are vocal opponents of gender- and race-related education issues that have fueled the right’s culture wars in schools. Only two of of the picks live in Florida.

Targeting teachers’ unions: Last month, DeSantis signaled that he will make a priority of passing a long-debated proposal that would prevent teachers from having union dues deducted from their paychecks. The proposal, which proponents call “paycheck protection legislation” is intended to target the Florida Education Association and other teachers unions that backed DeSantis’ Democratic challenger, Charlie Crist, in the Nov. 8 election. Miami-Dade County teachers union leader Karla Hernandez-Mats served as Crist’s running mate.

Culture war’s costs: DeSantis’ political strategy has won national attention for his ability to shrewdly select culture war issues and use a compliant Florida Legislature to advance them. But while the agenda has drawn more than 15 lawsuits, it has so far yielded few legal victories, and cost Florida taxpayers nearly $17 million in legal fees to date.

List of legal battles: The legal battles have involved more than a dozen policies and administrative actions linked to the Florida governor’s “culture wars.” So far, he’s lost more than he’s won. Here’s a rundown of the litigation.

Budget leverage? Among the laws that have been put on hold by the courts is the Stop WOKE Act aimed at restricting academic discussion of race and equity issues. The administration quietly sent a memo to state colleges and universities last month asking them to “provide a comprehensive list of all staff, programs and campus activities related to diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory.” What is the goal? Will the state use the budget to stop discussion of these issues? Some faculty members are worried that it “is a transparent attempt to achieve through intimidation what he was unable to achieve through legislation.”

Disney reform is hatched: Although Walt Disney Co. has held its legal fire, the possibility of a lawsuit could emerge if the governor and lawmakers dismantle the company’s Reedy Creek Improvement District in retaliation for criticizing a new education law relating to gender discussions in schools.

A notice posted Friday by the Legislature on the website for Osceola County, one of two counties where the Disney property is located, indicated that lawmakers may be moving forward with changes that might keep the framework of the special district but dictate who would run it. The legal questions remain, however, over who is responsible for paying off the debt if the company loses its ability to tax itself under the current system.

Immigration on trial: Florida is headed to court Monday in Pensacola in the state’s lawsuit against Biden’s Department of Homeland Security. Attorney General Ashley Moody sued the federal government last year for failing to detain migrants who are in the country illegally. Depositions released late Sunday show that Florida state officials in at least three agencies give unemployment and Medicaid services to undocumented migrants.

DeSantis aide’s alias: Emails released just before Christmas as a result of a lawsuit by the Florida Center for Government Accountability revealed yet another detail about the secretive nature of the governor’s plan to relocate migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard last September. In an effort to help his former client win a state contract to operate the controversial program, Larry Keefe, DeSantis’ public safety czar, used a private email address with the alias “Clarice Starling” — a reference to the Hannibal Lecter serial killer novels.

“This is the email channel to use,” Keefe wrote to James Montgomerie, head of Vertol Systems Company, a Destin, Florida-based aviation company. The records also suggest that Keefe wrote some of the language that the private contractor used in its bid proposal to fly migrants to Democratic states.

Ladapo was ‘careless’: Florida’s top health official, Joseph Ladapo, has come under fire from a committee of the University of Florida College of Medicine, which sharply criticized his research that led to Florida’s recent COVID-19 vaccine guidance.

The report, by the college’s professors, argued that Ladapo, a professor at the college, may have violated university policy against “careless, irregular, or contentious research practices” when he recommended in October against mRNA COVID-19 vaccines for men ages 18-39. The recommendation stemmed from a state Department of Health study that examined the health risks of the vaccines for men but was criticized by scientists across the country for cherry-picking data to reach his conclusions.

Condo market worries: Real estate experts are now warning that safety legislation passed last year in the wake of the deadly building collapse in Surfside could plunge the condominium market into turmoil.

For years, condo associations across Florida deferred routine maintenance and put off budgeting for future repairs to minimize costs for unit owners. But now that the legislation requires that money be set aside for repairs, market analysts are warning that the increase in cost in an already tight market could have a chilling effect on condo sales.

Oliva gets new gig: The governor’s new term begins with some new appointments. Last week, DeSantis appointed Miami Republican and former House Speaker Jose Oliva to the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees education. He also nominated Dave Kerner, a Palm Beach County commissioner and former state legislator, to be executive director of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

Judge gets soft landing: The Hillsborough circuit judge who voters ousted in August after his controversial ruling in an abortion case gets to keep his judicial robe after all. DeSantis appointed Jared Smith to fill one of the three vacancies on the newly created Sixth District Court of Appeal, which will be based in Lakeland.

Strut stuff and smile: King Mango Strut, the satiric and topical parade, returned Sunday for the first time in two years to Coconut Grove with its legendary attempt at poking fun at Miami, the state — and the country. Hundreds of people showed up to kick off a month-long celebration to honor the 150th anniversary of the founding of Coconut Grove. Take a look at some of these statement pieces!

Miami Herald Capitol Bureau Chief Mary Ellen Klas curates the Politics and Policy in the Sunshine State newsletter. We appreciate our readers, and if you have any ideas or suggestions, please drop me a note at meklas@miamiherald.com.

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