TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The crisis on the US southern border is one of the country’s most important political problems.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has also made him one of his own.
“It’s causing big problems and it’s going to get a lot worse with the expiration of Title 42,” DeSantis said.
He signed a sweeping immigration bill into law on Wednesday.
It’s one of the state’s most controversial new laws that will no doubt affect South Florida families and industries.
He even got a response from the Biden administration Wednesday afternoon, calling it the governor’s political stunt.
The governor and the conservative legislature say the new law is a response to the surge of migrants at the border, in addition to political inaction to address complicated humanitarian and security issues.
The sweeping law requires employers to verify the status of workers through E-Verify, increases penalties for human trafficking, prohibits undocumented people from obtaining IDs and driver’s licenses, and requires hospitals to report the costs of your attention
“People will come if they get a benefit, and so what you want to do is say there’s no benefit to coming illegally,” DeSantis said.
Democrats and South Florida advocates are calling the new law overboard.
“There are federal dollars dedicated to this, so there doesn’t need to be a state charge for any of the things we’re talking about,” said Florida state Rep. Dotie Joseph (D, FL 108).
Immigrant lawyer Thomas Kennedy added: “We are actually hard-working people who want to be left alone and want to protect and support their families.”
The new law also funds a migrant transportation program, which is a more official version of Florida’s tax-funded trips for 50 Venezuelans brought over the border to Martha’s Vineyard last year.
The State selected three companies to carry out the transport program. One of them was the company that paid to make the original flights that was actually paid more than it performed.
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