Jacksonville will soon have a local immigration law on the books — one that adds new penalties for unauthorized immigrants and funds mobile fingerprinting scanners for the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. But it didn’t arrive there through confident leadership or democratic consensus. It will become law because Mayor Donna Deegan let it.
She neither signed it nor vetoed it , and will simply allow it to become law without her name attached. That speaks volumes — and it also leaves our city in a murky middle ground between action and avoidance.
To be fair, Mayor Deegan acknowledged the concerns. She cited legal risks and questioned the necessity of the bill, which she was right to do. This ordinance duplicates existing state and federal laws, exposes Jacksonville to potential lawsuits and sends a chilling message to immigrant communities who now fear racial profiling and harassment…