Photo: WADE VANDERVORT/AFP/Getty Images
By: EFE Posted May 25, 2023, 19:45 pm EDT
Various groups and coalitions of organizations that defend the rights of immigrants in the United States launched a call for attention on the consequences that the governor may have Ron DeSantis have announced that the fight against illegal immigration is the cornerstone of his presidential campaign for the 2024 elections.
DeSantis officially registered his candidacy for the Republican primary on Wednesday and later in a conversation with businessman Elon Musk on Twitter outlined his electoral program, in which he undocumented immigrants have an unwanted role.
“Our border is a disaster,” Governor DeSantis says in his first official campaign video, a message he reiterated in the eventful launch of his candidacy on Twitter on Wednesday, where in a conversation with businessman Elon Musk he noted that the US southern border “collapses” and drugs “flow into the country.
DeSantis is the promoter of one of the state’s toughest laws against undocumented immigrants, which will go into effect in Florida on July 1.
It is expected that if he reaches the White House, he will try to extend that rule, SB 1718, to the entire country, although first it must pass the acid test in Florida, a state with a great dependence on undocumented immigrants in sectors such as agriculture, hospitality and construction.
“Without going into effect, SB 1718, sponsored by Governor DeSantis, has already made a human and economic impact on Floridians,” said Juan Flores, president of the September 15 Foundation, who has organized a protest against “this racist and inhumane law” in Tampa, on the west coast of the state, for June 1.
DeSantis’ anti-immigrant policy denounced
After officially knowing DeSantis’s intentions to reach the White House, hehe Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC) highlighted that the “DeSantis anti-immigrant crusade” in Florida, Home to 4.5 million foreigners and the third most diverse state in the country, “it makes evident its inability to lead.”
“Instead of focusing on addressing the problems that hurt Floridians, he resorted to attacking and vilifying immigrants and using our communities as scapegoats,” added the organization, which recalled that SB 1718 provides for up to 15 years in prison. for living with or transporting an undocumented relative.
The Florida governor has not missed an opportunity to criticize the immigration policies of the Biden Administration and has promised to send state security forces to the southern border, as he did in 2021.
DeSantis gained media attention last year when he chartered fifty Venezuelans who had just crossed the southern border from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.
In the opinion of Beatriz López, political director of the Immigration Center, Florida is already feeling the economic fallout from the governor’s extreme policieswith labor shortages and empty workplaces, due to growing fears of immigrants over SB 1718.
“DeSantis has made anti-immigrant policies a cornerstone of his presidential campaign even as the state of Florida, its workers, businesses and economy, suffer,” Lopez said.
Keep reading:
– The “great comeback” for the United States that Ron DeSantis promises if he wins the Presidency
– What changes for the undocumented in Florida with the new law that causes panic among many immigrants
– Florida Congress passes immigration law considered the toughest in the country