All Floridians Should Be Worried About DeSantis’ New Anti-Immigration Law – By Isabela Dias (Mother Jones) / May 31, 2023
This measure brings discrimination to a whole new level.
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Guadalupe de la Cruz, director of the Florida chapter of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), wasn’t surprised when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed one of the most restrictive anti-immigration laws in the country this May. After all, DeSantis already championed legislation banning sanctuary cities in the state and engineered political stunts with flights of migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard. These policies intentionally created to target the immigrant community, de la Cruz says, are part of “a pattern we’ve seen before.” Nonetheless, she adds, this new measure brings discrimination against immigrants to a different level. “It was still very disappointing to have a governor support such a racist, anti-immigrant law,” she says.
On May 10, when DeSantis signed Senate Bill 1718 into law, he claimed to be “fighting back against reckless federal government policies and ensuring the Florida taxpayers are not footing the bill for illegal immigration.” The sweeping legislation mandates that private employers with more than 25 employees use the federal E-Verify system to check the immigration status of new hires; failure to comply could risk penalties that include the revocation of licenses that are required for businesses to operate.
Under the new legislation, local governments will be prohibited from providing funds to issue identification documents for undocumented immigrants and immigrants will be barred from using legally issued driver licenses from other states. (Currently, 18 states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses.) Hospitals that accept Medicaid now will be required to collect immigration data on their admission or registration forms and report costs associated with any treatment of patients. The transportation of undocumented immigrants across state lines into Florida becomes a felony—punishable by up to 15 years in prison if the immigrant is a minor. Meanwhile, $12 million will be allocated to the governor’s so-called “Unauthorized Alien Transport Program” to move migrants to other states as a way to criticize the Biden administration’s supposedly “open border” policies.
