Despite Trump's involvement, Ron DeSantis expected to veto a Florida immigration bill

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A push to implement President Donald Trump's immigration deal in Florida is set to fall flat, with Gov. Ron DeSantis vowing to veto the proposal passed by Republican legislators late Tuesday night.

The deal was brokered in part directly by Trump, whose home is in the state and who has brought a number of Floridians into his administration.

But it ran directly into a bitter battle between DeSantis and the state's Republican-controlled Legislature, which now feels more emboldened to challenge the once all-powerful governor.

Legislators worked late into the night to beef up a proposal both they and DeSantis said was aimed at aligning Florida state laws with a wave of executive orders signed by Trump.

But the major tension point that remained in the bill was language that would shift most state immigration authority from DeSantis to state Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, who has long had a cold relationship with the governor and openly was attacked by DeSantis and his staff throughout the process.

It was the provision most important to DeSantis. On Wednesday morning, the governor pledged to veto the bill once it hits his desk, which has not yet happened.

“The veto pen is ready," DeSantis posted on X on Wednesday morning.

The forthcoming veto comes after both sides directly lobbied Trump to publicly support their version of the legislation.

The president talked directly with DeSantis about the bill and called some of his allies in the Florida Legislature to strengthen their original proposal.

“The governor talked to Trump [Monday] morning, and Trump agreed the bill needed changes, and said he would help to call legislators to make it stronger,” a source familiar with the call told NBC News.

Those efforts did result in some changes to the bill that both Trump and DeSantis wanted.

NBC News reached out to the White House for comment on the Florida bill.

Less than 30 minutes before the Florida state Senate reconvened Tuesday night, a new 84-page proposal was filed that added several hard-line measures to the bill. The measure included, among other things, mandatory death sentences for undocumented people who commit crimes such as murder and rape of a child — similar to what Trump has pushed as well — boosting sentencing guidelines for certain crimes committed by undocumented people and creating a bonus program for local law enforcement officers who work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement task forces.

To increase pressure on lawmakers, DeSantis over the past few days took to national conservative media outlets to blast Simpson, as well as Florida House Speaker Danny Perez and Senate President Ben Albritton for their version of the bill. He called their proposal an “unconstitutional” transfer of immigration powers to the state’s top agriculture office.

“There’s swampy politics everywhere, and some of these legislative leaders foisted a different bill,” he told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday night. The bill “takes power away from me … the power I’m currently exercising now.”

Republicans in the Legislature have supermajorities, which is enough to overturn a gubernatorial veto, but because enough DeSantis allies voted with him, that is seen as increasingly unlikely.

A DeSantis veto after the Legislature functionally waged a war against him on immigration will allow the governor to take a victory lap, but the vote counts indicate just how much sway he has lost with lawmakers.

Over the past few years, they had handed DeSantis almost everything he wanted as he ran for president in 2024.

Just five of the 29 Republicans in the Senate, the chamber with closer margins, sided with DeSantis and opposed their own legislative leadership.

It’s also expected that the fight with DeSantis will move into the state’s regular legislative session, with Republicans prepared to propose measures throughout that DeSantis both opposes and could erode some of his authority.

One plan floated Tuesday night by lawmakers was reviewing if taxpayer dollars were used to fund social media troll efforts to try and sway and attack lawmakers. As is a calling card of DeSantis’ political operation, lawmakers were relentlessly attacked on X by both high-follower count DeSantis supporters and waves of anonymous accounts that are generally seen as troll accounts designed to do one thing: attack.

“I think that may be something that we may take up in the House,” said state Rep. Juan Porras, a Trump ally in the Florida House. “Maybe we’ll figure out how much taxpayer dollars are used attacking legislators.”

Though no legislation was passed, it is expected that the fight is not over.

Once DeSantis vetoes the bill passed Tuesday night, he is expected to immediately call lawmakers back in for a special session to once again try and pass an immigration overhaul.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com