MIAMI – The feared SB 1718 law, which severely punishes undocumented immigrants and those who help them, went into effect this Saturday in Florida amid protests and calls to unite and use the vote to combat what Latino leaders defined as a “ attack from the far right.
“Today is a very important day because Florida is under attack. We are being victims of a governor who has used and continues to use the State as a political platform to send a strong extreme-right message,” said Soraya Márquez, director of Mi Familia Vota in this state, during the Mexico, Central and South America that is celebrated this Saturday in Miami.
The objective of this meeting convened by different pro-immigrant organizations is to define “an action plan with specific strategies and objectives” against SB 1718 and the policies of Governor Ron DeSantis.
In addition, demonstrations against SB 1718 have been called for later in a dozen Florida cities, although it is likely that fewer people will participate than in previous days, since the law is already in force and there is “fear” in the community, one of the organizers told EFE.
fear of protesting
The “fear” of undocumented immigrants, which has led many to leave Florida, is just one of the effects of this law promoted by Governor DeSantis, who aspires to be president of the United States and is already campaigning for being elected the Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election.
However, Detective Argemis Colomé, spokesman for the Miami Dade County Police Department, who attended the Migration Convention, told EFE that the law “does not change much” the work of the agents of that police force.
According to Colomé, the legal team of the Miami Dade Police Department has only found one aspect of the law that requires them to act differently than they did and that is to transfer an undocumented immigrant to Florida from another state, even if it is a relative , is considered in SB1718 as a second degree felony and they must act.
Before, in a case like this, the agents only had to call the state agencies that are in charge of irregular immigration, Colomé said.
“The Police are not going to ask about your immigration status if they stop you for a traffic matter, nor are they going to ask whoever is going to report that they have been the victim of a crime,” Colomé asserted.
“The law is going to impact the person who is committing a crime, not the person who is working, not the person who is in their car, not the friends or families who do not have papers and are with you,” he asserted.
However, the detective acknowledged that he could not assure how the police departments of other counties, nor the sheriffs of all of Florida, will act.
exodus and economy
The new law, which is part of a package of more than 200 approved this year by the Florida Congress, including some others of an ultra-conservative nature, forces companies with more than 25 workers to use an official immigration status verification program. of each one, under penalty of fines and loss of license.
In addition, hospitals that accept public health insurance (Medicaid) must ask and record whether or not their patients are legal residents.
One of the messages that was heard the most during the convention, which was attended by the Consul General of Mexico in Miami, Jonathan Chait, is that the so-called “anti-immigrant” law not only affects them “but all people who live in the state”.
The undocumented, who, according to Márquez told EFE, number more than a million in Florida, are essential for the three sectors that drive the economy, agriculture, construction and tourism, in which the shortage of labor is already felt. caused by the exodus of workers from Florida to the two Carolinas and Georgia.
The result for Floridians can be summed up in one word: more expensive, said the board of MI Familia Vota.
Héctor Sánchez Barba, president and executive director of the same organization, emphasized that civic participation and the creation of a Latino political power is the best solution to face “racist and extremist” attacks that “are not new.”
In Márquez’s opinion, this is the moment to create a movement that integrates the entire community to stop DeSantis’s feet in the next elections he is running for, whether they are the 2024 presidential elections or those of 2026 to renew the position as governor.
Keep reading:
Before the entry into force of anti-immigrant laws in Florida, they ask for a plan to support those who seek refuge in NY
How SB 1718 will not only affect immigrants, but many more in Florida