Rick Scott dropped public push for Arizona-style law

The 2011 legislative session ended early in the morning May 7, 2011, without passage of the Arizona-style immigration reforms Florida Gov. Rick Scott had promised during his Republican primary for governor.

The heart of the Arizona law requires local law enforcement officials, once they stop a person, to verify the immigration status of anyone they reasonably suspect of being in the country illegally. Bills filed originally in the Florida House and Senate had some Arizona-type provision, but the Arizona component never made it to a floor vote.

"Immigration reform should have happened, but there are a lot of other things that did happen," Scott said May 6 during a radio appearance on Freedom 94.5, a Fox-affiliated Panhandle radio station.

Without a bill, host Andi Newcombe asked if Florida would become a "job magnet for illegal aliens."

"What can be done now to save Florida from being the sanctuary state from a job magnet for illegal aliens now that Georgia and it looks like Alabama are demonstrating the courage to pass the E-Verify to get their legal state residents back to work?" asked Newcombe, who says she wants to be the "next Rush Limbaugh."

"We've got the next session," Scott answered. "We've got to get ready for the next session and let everybody we elect know that it's important to us."

Yet Scott did little to push an Arizona-style law through the Florida Legislature, and all but abandoned calls for the law after he won his GOP primary (During the primary he ran an ad telling legislators to pass the law in a special session). While there is always next year, for now we rate this Promise Broken.