Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida promised on Wednesday to veto legislation that would toughen immigration enforcement in the state and blasted fellow Republicans for not going far enough after they took the rare step of defying him.
Escalating a power struggle with new Republican legislative leaders, Mr. DeSantis said he would reject the bill, the morning after state lawmakers approved it in a special session. He indicated that he would ask lawmakers to try again — but only after giving their constituents time to protest their bill.
“What I think people are sick of is the treachery,” Mr. DeSantis said on Wednesday in Fort Myers, during the second appearance of the day in which he castigated his fellow Republicans. “When the people are animated on an issue, these representatives will listen.”
The rebellion is not likely to go as far as an override of the governor’s veto: When the bill passed late Tuesday, several Republicans aligned with Mr. DeSantis and every Democrat voted against it. It would set aside more than $500 million for local agencies to assist with immigration enforcement, increase certain criminal penalties for unauthorized immigrants and create a new state office to coordinate enforcement efforts. That office would be led by the state’s agriculture commissioner, Wilton Simpson, who is not close with the governor.
Still, the events this week started a new chapter in the DeSantis era of Florida politics, with legislators from the governor’s own party publicly criticizing him and portraying themselves as truer allies of President Trump. The governor countered that lawmakers cared more about playing “dumb Tallahassee games” than about acting on their campaign promises.
Lawmakers had not formally sent him the bill as of Wednesday afternoon.
Behind the surprising moves were a new House speaker, Daniel Perez of Miami, and Senate president, Ben Albritton of Wauchula, who chose to flex their political muscle against the governor as he heads into the final two years of his term.
“Threatening others to get your way isn’t leadership,” Mr. Perez said on Tuesday night without mentioning Mr. DeSantis. “It’s immaturity. The people of our state deserve better.”
Mr. DeSantis was an all-powerful figure at the State Capitol in Tallahassee for much of the past six years, facing little opposition as he pushed through far-reaching legislation and expanded his executive powers. But then he ran for president against Mr. Trump, and his campaign quickly foundered. He will reach his term limit in 2026, and many lawmakers now appear unwilling to go along with his every proposal.
Weeks ago, Mr. Perez and Mr. Albritton made clear that they did not want to hold a special legislative session before the regular one, which is scheduled to begin on March 4. Mr. Perez said he considered special sessions unnecessary outside of emergencies. There was also a more practical concern: The House chamber was under renovation and covered in scaffolding.
Mr. DeSantis, however, would not take no for an answer.
Having already failed late last year to get lawmakers to return to Tallahassee to address a condominium law, he called early this month for them to return for a special session to address illegal immigration and several other issues. He then spent two weeks hammering them in public for resisting him. Lawmakers especially bristled when the Republican Party of Florida sent text messages to constituents listing their names and phone numbers and suggesting that Mr. DeSantis wanted to support Mr. Trump while they did not.
Legislators answered the governor’s summons to appear at the State Capitol on Monday, but Republican leaders announced that they would consider only the immigration issue — and under their own parameters. They proceeded to override one of Mr. DeSantis’s budget vetoes from last summer, an exceedingly rare occurrence. Republicans hold supermajorities in the House and Senate.
Mr. DeSantis quickly dismissed the legislature’s immigration proposals as “weak” and went on right-wing media outlets to criticize them. His staff parried with lawmakers and Mr. Simpson in biting messages on social media. Mr. DeSantis held a last-minute conference call with Republicans to press his case. And he spoke with Mr. Trump on Monday, someone close to him said.
But so did State Senator Joe Gruters of Sarasota, a fellow Republican and one of the bill’s sponsors. On Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Perez boasted on X that lawmakers had revamped their bill with “technical assistance from the White House.” The changes included a requirement that unauthorized immigrants convicted of a capital offense automatically be sentenced to death.
During a legislative debate on Tuesday, Democratic lawmakers questioned whether that provision was constitutional. They also unsuccessfully urged Republicans not to eliminate in-state college tuition for people who were brought to the United States illegally as children.
“Don’t pull the rug out from underneath so many of these students who did nothing wrong,” said State Senator Carlos Guillermo Smith, a Democrat from Orlando.
But most striking was the overt Republican infighting.
“I cannot vote for this, because it is nowhere near strong enough for my taste,” said State Senator Blaise Ingoglia of Spring Hill.
Mr. Ingoglia, a DeSantis ally, is seeking the governor’s appointment to the vacant state chief financial officer position. So is Mr. Gruters, the Trump ally.
State Senator Randy Fine, Republican of Melbourne Beach, brought up the fact that Mr. DeSantis had sought to defeat Mr. Trump in the 2024 presidential primary.
“I’m not going to take lectures from someone who a year ago didn’t think Donald Trump should be president,” Mr. Fine said on the Senate floor.
Mr. Fine won a special election primary for Congress on Tuesday after receiving Mr. Trump’s endorsement.
At least one Republican, State Representative John Paul Temple of Wildwood, said in a post on X on Wednesday that he regretted his vote for the bill and would not support overriding the governor’s veto. “As I drove home last night and reflected on my vote, I realized it was not the right decision,” he said.
If state lawmakers continue to defy him, Mr. DeSantis could keep calling them into special sessions. Lawmakers, for their part, could threaten further budget veto overrides, though their margins could be difficult in the Senate, where Mr. DeSantis has more support.
State Representative Juan Carlos Porras, a Republican from Miami, referred to Mr. DeSantis on X as a “lame-duck governor.”
“The American people were clear,” Mr. Porras told reporters on Tuesday. “This is the party of President Donald Trump, not the party of Governor DeSantis.”
