Ron DeSantis Fights Florida Squatters’ Rights with New Law

SANFORD, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES – 2024/04/08: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis listens to a speaker at a news conference in Sanford, Florida, where he signed a bill to stiffen penalties for those who expose law enforcement officers to fentanyl and to raise awareness of life-saving resources for people experiencing opioid overdoses. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

(NewsNation) — Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has approved legislation that would allow homeowners or authorized agents in the Sunshine State to ask the sheriff for help removing squatters from their property.

While other states are scrambling to crack down on newcomer loopholes, DeSantis is continuing his crackdown on newcomers, following a repeal of the state’s newcomer laws that he signed into law in March.

House Bill 621 became law Thursday. It gives sheriffs the power to arrest unauthorized occupants, and criminal penalties apply to those who falsify documents about their eligibility to live in a property.

Friday saw the release of a clip from DeSantis’ Thursday appearance on Fox News, in which the governor declared that “the Florida squatter scam is over.”

“What New York is doing, what California is doing, Florida will do the opposite. So the immigration scam ends today with our legislation,” he said.

“Now in Florida, you fill out a form, the sheriff comes and throws you off your property.”

In April, the state of Georgia passed a law that prohibited individuals from taking over real estate and then seeking to recover title to it.

In March, Illinois resident Darthula Young told NewsNation Now that her late mother’s home had been seized and repossessed, and the process to remove it was not as simple as an eviction.