By Paul Waldmiller
Did you know that Florida State Representative Berny Jacques has proposed a series of bills aimed at combating illegal immigration?
Representative Jacques recently proposed a multitude of bills focusing on employment verification, victim compensation, and stricter enforcement measures regarding Illegal Aliens within Florida. One of the key proposals, HB 197, would require all private employers in Florida to use the federal E-Verify system to confirm the work eligibility of new employees, eliminating the current threshold that only mandates its use for businesses with 25 or more employees. This particular bill builds on last year’s 2025 on HB 955 filed in February 2025, which also sought to remove the 25-employee requirement for E-Verify usage.
Another bill, HB 229—known as the “Shane Jones Act”—would allow victims of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants to receive financial compensation. The bill proposes imposing a $10,000 fine on law enforcement agencies that fail to comply with state immigration enforcement laws, with the collected funds directed toward compensating victims. It also enables families to sue local governments with sanctuary policies if a loved one is killed by an undocumented immigrant. A similar measure, HB 1491, was previously introduced to impose fines on agencies violating immigration laws and redirect those funds to victims.
Jacques has also been a leading sponsor on multiple other immigration-related bills, including legislation that would classify marriage fraud involving foreign nationals as domestic violence, allowing victims to seek protective injunctions. His other bills include disallowing Illegal Immigrants from receiving housing assistance, sending remittances, opening bank accounts, receiving worker’s compensation and increases penalties employers who knowingly hire unauthorized workers, including escalating fines and license suspensions.