U.S. based Latino advocacy groups are urging people to avoid traveling to Florida ahead of a new immigration law set to take effect in July. The law, signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, requires employers with more than 25 employees to check their immigration status, and those who do not comply will face fines of $1,000 per day.
The immigration law is one of the several controversial laws DeSantis recently signed that has garnered attention as he heads into the 2024 Republican presidential primary.
“As a result of this for only the second time in LULAC history, we’re issuing a travel advisory for anybody traveling to Florida,” said Domingo Garcia, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). LULAC is the oldest civil rights organization dedicated to advancing opportunities for Latinos.
DeSantis said the law is crucial to fight back “against reckless federal government policies and ensuring the Florida taxpayers are not footing the bill for illegal immigration,” according to a statement given when he signed the law earlier this month.
Francisco Maldonado, a farmer based in Homestead, Florida, said farmers he knows who employ more than 25 workers are scared, “They don’t know what they’re going to do, they might lose part of the farm and they don’t know who is leaving.”
Many neighboring farms have already lost workers in anticipation of the law.
“Immigrant workers, really, are the drivers of Florida’s economy,” and the new law is “really punching down on the communities that make this economy run,” Maldonado lamented.
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