Florida House backs down amid DeSantis criticism: emergency dollars can be used on immigration

By: Liv Caputo

Outlets: Florida Phoenix

Published: February 17, 2026

Words: 652

Last Updated: 3 weeks, 1 day ago

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The Florida House on Tuesday backed down from its proposal to block emergency funds from being used on illegal immigration enforcement following harsh criticism from the DeSantis administration.

This represents a massive pivot from the GOP-dominated House’s original proposal to exclusively use the Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund on natural disasters, an idea blasted as “moronic” by the state Attorney General James Uthmeier, a former aide to Gov. Ron DeSantis.

A Tuesday addition to …

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