{"id":11574,"date":"2025-06-24T19:52:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T19:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/11574\/"},"modified":"2025-06-24T19:52:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T19:52:13","slug":"jacksonville-mayor-vetoes-immigration-related-bill-action-news-jax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/11574\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville mayor vetoes immigration-related bill \u2013 Action News Jax"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan will discuss a new immigration bill<\/b><\/a> <\/b>passed by the Jacksonville City Council during a 4 p.m. news conference.<\/p>\n

Action News Jax has obtained the document showing that Deegan is vetoing the bill:<\/p>\n

In her veto, Deegan said the bill \u201cis duplicative of existing state and federal laws and requirements\u201d and \u201clacks a defined scope.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also said the bill \u201cintroduces legal exposure for the City and for non-profit and healthcare partners\u201d and that the \u201cCity is already taking steps to ensure accountability and compliance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Action News Jax will stream Deegan\u2019s briefing LIVE on FOX30 Action News Jax at 4 p.m. You can click the link below to watch at that time:<\/p>\n

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

The legislation<\/b><\/a> would have restricted organizations that receive tax dollars from the City of Jacksonville from providing services to people who are here in the country illegally.<\/p>\n

The bill included some exceptions, including for medical services provided by UF Shands, services for victims of labor and sex trafficking, children\u2019s services, and services provided to active military members and pregnant women.<\/p>\n

The bill also specified that organizations would have to \u201cknowingly\u201d provide services or distribute funds to someone in the country illegally to be considered in violation.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the mayor\u2019s office would have had to present a report to the city council by June 30, reporting all federal grants the city receives and how many people without legal status in the country are living in local public housing.<\/p>\n

[DOWNLOAD: <\/b>Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/b><\/a>]<\/b><\/p>\n

The mayor punted on a bill earlier this year<\/b><\/a> <\/b>that makes it a crime to enter Duval County without legal status in the country, allowing it to take effect without her signature.<\/p>\n

Jacksonville City Councilman Rory Diamond (R-District 13), who sponsored the bill, issued the following statement about the veto:<\/p>\n

\u201cBy vetoing a bill I authored, as well as the members of city council who voted in favor with overwhelming support, to stop the use of taxpayer dollars from being spent on illegal aliens, Mayor Donna Deagan (sic) is making Jacksonville a sanctuary city under our noses. She has clearly made the choice to support law breakers over hard working Jacksonvillians, and prioritize illegals and criminals who put our city at risk over the great silent majority of Jacksonville. We absolutely will not give up the fight, I will put this same bill in this year\u2019s budget. No matter how much Donna and the liberals try, we will not let our community fall and become another Los Angeles.\u201d <\/p>\n

Councilman Jimmy Peluso (D-District 7) issued the following statement in support of the mayor\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday our City stood up to the fear mongering and bully tactics popular in national media. So now, let us finally turn the page on these highly unnecessary bills. This legislation doesn\u2019t protect taxpayers or hold bad actors accountable; it just hurts people and spreads fear. Let\u2019s get back to doing the good work Jacksonville is asking for us to do: housing affordability, homelessness, economic development, and establishing a neighborhood Bill of Rights. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis City and our Country was built by immigrants seeking opportunity for their families. Where you come from does not matter as much as what you do for your community and neighbors. As we know, Jacksonville is full of residents who immigrated here, and who are productive citizens who pay their fair share and make our home a better place.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, we stood against using government to bully immigrants who only want to work and support their families. Today, we fought on the side of justice for our fellow human beings. We do not need extra government to solve a fake problem; so now let\u2019s get to work on legislation that will solve real issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

[SIGN UP: <\/b>Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/b><\/a>] <\/b><\/p>\n

Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan will discuss a new immigration bill passed by the Jacksonville City…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,10083,3188,723,7310,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-11574","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-donna-deegan","10":"tag-fl","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-jacksonville","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-united-states-of-america","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114740090897615854","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}