This weekend, thousands of people demonstrated in Florida against the SB1718 immigration law, which went into effect on July 1, and to defend the contribution of immigrants to the culture and economy of this southern state of the United States.
Florida’s controversial rule SB 1718, which, among other things, penalizes companies that hire undocumented immigrants, hospitals, and people who collaborate with immigrants, has caused thousands of undocumented immigrants to move to other states, fearful of possible deportation. in the midst of an internal exodus from the United States.
The call requires the Florida company of more than 25 employees to use a program to verify the immigration status of each of its foreign employees. In addition to that, it can be punished with fines and the withdrawal of permits to operate, among other draconian and “un-American” measures.
Now this weekend more than half a thousand people, of all ages and mostly Mexicans and Central Americans, gathered in front of the City Hall with flags and signs alluding to a state law that is considered the harshest against irregular immigration in all United States.
According to the EFE news agency, the protesters marched after listening to various community and religious leaders and witnessing the performance of folkloric groups, the participants began a march through the city of Miami. “Without the undocumented, like the farm workers and all the others who do the hard jobs, Florida falls apart,” Antonia Catalán, a Mexican activist with the organization Soy Poderosa, told EFE.
The activist also criticized the restrictions on legal abortion and other laws promoted by the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis. Catalán affirmed that there is panic among immigrants who have decided to stay in Florida, unlike many others who have headed north to work in states such as Georgia and North Carolina and South Carolina in the midst of an exodus from Florida.
SB 1718 threatens almost 400,000 undocumented immigrants who work in six important sectors in Florida, which represents almost 10% of the state’s labor force.
Florida’s new immigration measures will directly affect work for undocumented people, their children’s schooling, and their access to the public health system. This position has put DeSantis in the eye of the hurricane, since they have questioned her position for being considered little humanitarian and anti-immigration.
With information from EFE
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