Last week, hundreds of people in the Tampa, Florida, area and other cities took to the streets for what was called “a day without immigrants.”
The goal was to protest legislation signed by Governor Ron DeSantis. His critics say he is anti-immigration in trying to discourage anyone in the United States illegally from traveling to Florida and criminalizing anyone who helps undocumented immigrants settle, move and find work.
When he signed the law into law, DeSantis explained that it calls for different things like expanding the requirements for businesses with more than 25 employees to use E-Verifya federal system that determines whether employees can legally work in the United States.
“If someone is knowingly transporting illegal aliens to Florida, they can face up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine,” the governor said. “If you are caught transporting five or more illegal aliens or an unaccompanied illegal alien minor or have a prior conviction for human smuggling, you can be fined $10,000 and imprisoned for up to 15 years.” And at the end of the day, there wouldn’t be a problem of illegal immigration if there weren’t a lot of people who were facilitating this in our country.”
This Monday Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody filed an amended complaint against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Biden Administration, challenging their immigration policies.
The complaint alleges that these policies, including the “new parole policy,” have resulted in the mass release of aliens at the Southwest border, causing hardship and financial burdens on the state.
Florida accuses the Biden Administration of violating public safety immigration laws and weakening border security, seeking legal action to stop the new policy and overturn DHS’s parole policy.
Florida’s measures are considered among the toughest of any state to discourage undocumented immigration.
Since the start of the protests last Thursday, many people in the Tampa area have not shown up for construction or farm work. Dozens of restaurants, stores and other small businesses never opened their doors to demonstrate what they say could be the potential economic impact in Florida when the law goes into effect in July.
Organizers called the protest “A Day Without Immigrants,” reminiscent of the movie a day without mexicansa fictional documentary from the beginning of the new century that jokingly addresses the possibility that Mexicans will disappear from the state of California, leaving many services without employees.
This time there were protests in Tampa, Plant City and Wimauma, as well as areas of Manatee and Sarasota counties. People held signs with the following messages: “Deportations hurt families” and “Keep families together” amid Mexican, Honduran and other flags.
“We just want to show our government and Florida, especially in Plant City where their fresh strawberries grow, that we’re not here to take people’s jobs,” Eli Aguilar said during a protest. “We are here to work hard and do those jobs that others don’t want to do because of low wages.”
The bill also strengthens penalties for human smuggling and subjects violators to prosecution under Florida’s RICO law, which DeSantis said was a recommendation by a state grand jury.
“The press has been deliberately inaccurate about this distinction between legal and illegal immigration to create this type of outrage based on a false premise,” said Jeremy Redfern, press secretary for DeSantis’ office. “Any business that exploits this crisis by employing illegal aliens instead of Floridians will be held accountable. Every country defends its borders and has the sovereign right to do so. Florida’s only land borders are with the states of Georgia and Alabama.
Last month, the Latino civil rights group LULAC issued a travel advisory for Hispanics warning that the new law marginalizes immigrant communities and is immoral.
