Putnam Says Florida 'Best Served' by National Immigration Policy

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam said Florida would be best served if it does nothing on immigration in the 2012 legislative session, the Lakeland Ledger reported.

Instead, the paper reported, the nation needs a "smart immigration policy, not 50 different not-so-smart immigration policies."

"Putnam, a Bartow Republican, credited citrus industry supporters in the Legislature, including state Sen. J.D. Alexander, R-Lake Wales, with defeating a state immigration enforcement law modeled on an earlier law enacted in Arizona," the Ledger reported. "Since then, Georgia and Alabama have passed state immigration laws some consider more punitive."

"Thank God for Georgia and Alabama, because they've given us examples of real-world consequences of these mistaken policies," the Ledger reported Putnam said Monday at the 78th annual meeting of Citrus World Inc. at Lake Wales Country Club.

"Because of the work done last year, I think this issue is taking a back seat in the Legislature, and I do not anticipate it taking such a large role next year."

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