Led by Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida state legislators are considering a broad package of immigration measures that, if approved, would represent the toughest crackdown on undocumented immigrants in over a decade.
The bill aims to criminalize individuals who shelter, hire, and transport undocumented immigrants; require hospitals to ask patients about their immigration status and report those who are not legally documented to the state; invalidate out-of-state driver’s licenses issued to undocumented immigrants; and finally, instruct the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to assist federal authorities in enforcing the country’s immigration laws.
As Republicans, DeSantis’s party, hold a supermajority in both legislative chambers, the measures are expected to pass in the coming weeks.
DeSantis, who intends to run for president in 2024, described the bill as a response to President Biden’s “open borders agenda,” which he claims has allowed an uncontrolled flow of immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“We need to do everything in our power to protect the people of Florida from what is happening at the border,” DeSantis said at a press conference on February 23, during which he revealed his proposals.
Critics warn that the bill will sow fear, promote racial discrimination, and harm Florida’s economy. Moreover, the proposed measures go against a trend in other parts of the country to integrate the existing population of undocumented immigrants, estimated at over 10 million.
In the last decade, and especially since the pandemic, even some Republican-led states have introduced policies to provide undocumented residents with healthcare, access to higher education, driver’s licenses, and labor protections.
The state of Arizona, for example, last year revoked restrictions on higher education for undocumented immigrants and adopted the so-called “in-state tuition,” a cheaper tuition rate for residents of the state for all who attend high school in Arizona.
Governors Eric Holcomb of Indiana and Spencer Cox of Utah, both Republicans, recently urged Congress to pass immigration reform, citing the value of foreign workers in their states. In March, Cox signed a law extending health coverage to all low-income children in his state, regardless of immigration status.
Large Flow of Undocumented Immigrants in Florida
Neither the state nor the federal government has data on how many undocumented immigrants arrived in Florida during last year’s major influx at the border, but there are signs that the state was heavily affected.
As of March 31, Florida’s immigration courts had 296,833 pending cases, more than any other state, surpassing New York’s 187,179 and Texas’s 184,867 cases.
State officials reported that healthcare for undocumented immigrants cost nearly $313 million during the 2020-21 fiscal year, an amount paid by local, state, and federal governments.
Contradictions of the Proposal
According to the bill, a person can be charged with a third-degree felony for knowingly transporting, concealing, or harboring undocumented immigrants, punishable by up to five years in prison. Although the bill’s sponsors have stated that the legislation does not aim to target ordinary Florida citizens in their daily lives, its potential applications are broad and could indeed affect many citizens, including: an American adult child of an undocumented immigrant driving one of their parents, a lawyer driving a client to court, or someone driving a sports team that has a player without legal status. Similarly, the law could also apply to a landlord renting a property to a family without documents or someone who has an undocumented person living in their home.
The legislation also requires new state penalties to be imposed on employers who hire immigrants without work authorization. However, the state has been facing a labor shortage.
More than one in five Florida residents are immigrants, about 800,000 of whom are undocumented, and 722,000 American citizens in the state live in households with one or more undocumented immigrants.
The state is home to a large elderly population that relies on care often provided by immigrants, many of whom are undocumented; the agricultural sector employs many undocumented immigrants; and the tourism industry attracts millions of visitors from around the world to Florida’s beaches, restaurants, and theme parks, where service providers are often immigrants.
Source: The New York Times