Life’s about to get scarier for Florida’s undocumented workers. And DeSantis makes us all pay | Opinion

A new, all-encompassing anti-illegal-immigrant law, with several malevolent components, will take effect in Florida on July 1.

Its main goal, sadly, is simple: To guarantee no undocumented immigrant in this state can rest easy.

But it will impact us all, economically, socially and for some morally.

The law, pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis as a far-right response to President Biden’s perceived inaction on border policy, will discourage undocumented immigrants from settling down in Florida by making it so difficult for them to find work, healthcare and receive relatives’ assistance that they will leave or avoid Florida altogether.

“In Florida, we will not stand idly by while the federal government abandons its lawful duties to protect our country. The legislation I signed today gives Florida the most ambitious anti-illegal immigration laws in the country, fighting back against reckless federal government policies and ensuring the Florida taxpayers are not footing the bill for illegal immigration,” DeSantis said when he signed the bill into law in May.

Now, the impact of this master plan will begin to be felt as aspects of the bill take effect in just over a week.

In a special report on Sunday, Miami Herald reporter Clara-Sophia Daly gave readers a glimpse of what this new law will mean for undocumented migrants, who quietly help prop up the South Florida economy, whether we admit to it or not.

It’s apparent, she learned, that fear is spreading not only among the undocumented workers already in the shadows, but also immigrant activists, and even employers, who usually hire the undocumented for jobs like picking fruit and vegetables and paying them under the table. Keep in mind, these are jobs few others here will do.

Badge of honor

This law, of course, is a trophy from a compliant state Legislature that he can hoist in the air on his cross-country campaign for president, especially in areas where relocating immigrants from the Texas border to liberals strongholds, as DeSantis has done, is a badge of honor, not shame.

In essence, the law does closing all doors on any chance the undocumented can live a regular life in Florida:

It punishes not only these migrants, but also anyone who helps or employs them. And it makes it more onerous for them to seek medical treatment.

It requires private employers with 25 or more employees to use the E-Verify system for new employees beginning July 1. It also expands penalties for employers who fail to comply with E-Verify requirements, including the possible suspension and revocation of employer licenses and the imposition of specific penalties on employers knowingly employing illegal aliens. In the past, E-Verify has been unreliable in its results.

It creates a third-degree felony for an unauthorized immigrant to knowingly use a false ID document to gain employment.

It prohibits a county or municipality from providing funds to any person or organization for the purpose of issuing IDs or other documents to an illegal migrant.

Undocumented migrants will no longer be permitted to rely on out-of-state driver’s licenses. If another state issued a license to someone unable to prove lawful presence in the United States, that person is prohibited from operating a motor vehicle in Florida.

The law also enhances penalty for human smuggling when smuggling a minor, when smuggling more than five people and when the defendant has a prior conviction for human smuggling.

The new law now also adds the crime of human smuggling to the list of crimes allowed for prosecution under the Florida Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act.

And the law requires each hospital that accepts Medicaid to include a question on admission or registration forms that asks whether the patient is a U.S. citizen or lawfully present in the country. Hospitals will be required to provide a quarterly report to the Agency for Health Care Administration detailing the number of patients that visited the emergency department or were admitted to the hospital in each category of the citizenship status question on the admission or registration forms.

Lives in danger

We can only imagine how life-threatening a mandate like this can be for someone who is hiding in the shadows.

No, the Biden administration has not been “reckless” at the Southern border, having implemented policies that make it harder for migrants to seek political asylum without prior authorization secured in a country through which they traveled.

But, yes, presidents and federal lawmakers both have been derelict in tackling immigration reform head-on. This irresponsible lapse has left the huge hole through which DeSantis could ram through this law, lacking in all compassion.

We believe in law and order. But we also believe in the reality of undocumented migrants’ established presence in this country, the role they play in keep our economy afloat and the raw deal many of them are getting as DeSantis’ political pawns.

DeSantis’ law is aimed at making Florida a living hell for illegal immigrants, and it will touch the lives of the rest of us.

Well played, governor, at least for your own purposes.