By Message Staff TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (LBM) – The chambers of Florida’s legislature have passed competing bills banning sanctuary cities in the state, with the House version imposing a $5,000-per- day fine for each day that a sanctuary-city policy is in place and including a rule to suspend or remove government employees or elected officials who defy the ban. But both bills require local and state law enforcement to honor any federal agency’s request for detention of any person believed to be a “removable alien” under federal immigration law. If the differences can be worked out, observers expect Gov. DeSantis to sign the reconciled bill into law, with Florida joining nine other states (Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas) to enact such a mandate. A 2017 bill that would have prohibited sanctuary cities in Louisiana was left to die in committee, but the impact of that legislative failure is uncertain. The Center of Immigration Studies lists New Orleans as a “sanctuary city,” however the city signed a 2012 federal consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice Louisiana which governs its conduct with regard to reporting the immigration status of “victims or … [Read more...]

By Message Staff NEW ORLEANS (LBM) – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has declared that the $14 billion spent to fortify the Greater New Orleans area against flooding in the wake of devastation by Hurricane Katrina is at risk of failure, putting the region at risk of being disqualified from participation in the National Flood Insurance Program. In a “Notice of Intent” to prepare an environmental impact statement as part of a re-evaluation report, USACE stated the previous work it had completed to upgrade the levees, floodwalls, gates and pumps to reduce hurricane and storm damage risk at the “100-year level” was in peril in part due to weak soils and subsidence (sinking). The statement said an “engineering analysis” indicated the measures previously taken could be for naught “as early as 2023 … absent future levee lifts.” At that point, USACE will notify FEMA of the loss of risk reduction, “which may result in the loss of accreditation required for participation in the National Flood Insurance Program.” … [Read more...]