Last month, on May 10, precisely “Mother’s Day,” Florida Republican Governor Ron De Santis signed SB-1718—previously voted on by both Houses of the state Congress. And with this, it ceased to be a proposal to become law and will enter into force on July 1st.
As of that date, SB-1718:
*It will limit access to social services to all undocumented workers.
*He will allocate millions of dollars to expand the De Santis program for the resettlement of undocumented immigrants in other states and cities governed by Democrats.
* It will invalidate the driver’s licenses granted to undocumented immigrants by other states, which will allow the confiscation of the latter’s vehicles, as well as their arrest and delivery to the immigration authorities for their immediate deportation.
*It will require that those hospitals that receive public funds through programs such as “Medicaid” (medical insurance) demand and verify the immigration status of patients who need medical attention.
* Will force private employers with payrolls of 25 or more workers to use the “E-verify” system, the federal database that employers use to confirm eligibility to work legally in the US.
Abuses of authority
Since the signing of law SB-1718, countless abuses of authority have been documented and reported, where alleged undocumented immigrants are arbitrarily detained by police officers from various law enforcement agencies without their constitutional rights being respected. due process (“due process”) and based on a clear racist prejudice known as “racial profiling” these drivers are required to identify themselves with their driver’s license and if they cannot produce it, they are arrested, imprisoned and deported expeditiously.
Those who dare to question the behavior of the authorities have the windows of their cars broken and are then violently extracted from their respective vehicles to, apart from being accused of driving without the proper license, add the charge of “resisting” to The authority.
Beyond the abuses of authority against undocumented workers, an unfortunate and unacceptable consequence of Law SB-1718 is that it has motivated racist sectors of Florida society to become emboldened and join a growing wave of abuses in all countries. social orders against immigrant workers of all nationalities who reside and work in that important state.
The effect among our people of these actions by the US extreme right has not been long in coming and a kind of fear and collective anguish has invaded the close to 800,000 undocumented immigrants who are estimated to be in Florida working in strategic industries such as agriculture. (the second most important in the nation after California), construction, services (hotels, restaurants, bars, cleaning and domestic services), transportation, gardening, among many other lines of the economy.
In parallel, unforeseen consequences begin to be felt among the entire society of that rich southern state. Panicked, many undocumented workers have abandoned their jobs and many more have gone to the extreme of leaving the state seeking to avoid arrest and deportation. It is already common to see that huge construction sites for infrastructure, roads and buildings in the cities of Miami, Tampa, Jacksonville, and Tallahasee (the state capital) are stopped and abandoned. Crops of citrus crops (oranges, grapefruits, lemons, tangerines and countless other agricultural products) are rotting all over the fields of that rich territory.
business disgust
The economic losses push towards the ruin to all type of consortiums and agricultural interests. So much so, that entrepreneurs from the affected companies and businesses are already demanding that state legislators take urgent measures, as soon as possible, to reverse this process that if it is not stopped it will inevitably lead them to ruin with everything and their business. More than Donald Trump, it is these entrepreneurial women and men who have become the most serious threat to the ambitions of Governor Ron De Santis to one day be president of the United States.
The collective unrest that vulgar politicians like Ron De Santis and Greg Abbot (Texas) have provoked among all working people of Mexican/Latino origin, not to mention the other 24 Republicans who govern states in the nation, has been enormous. That is why public actions of all kinds have already been staged throughout the nation to express our willingness to be in solidarity with our immigrant sisters and brothers in Florida.
In addition to what has already been done, a coalition of pro-immigrant organizations have come together to push for action to reverse the damage SB-1718 is causing. In a spirit of respect for everyone, weeks ago we agreed to promote a caravan that will travel from California to Florida. We baptized this Caravan with the name of “We are all Florida”.
Journey of the Caravan
The Caravana will kick off on June 23 with a press conference at the historic Chicano Park in the City of San Diego. This important action is being coordinated by Luis Vega. After this action, they will board their vehicles to go to the capital of immigrants, the City of Los Angeles, where on Sunday, June 25, at noon, the priest Arturo Corrales will officiate a mass with prayers in favor of our immigrant brothers in the Florida to raise prayers to the Almighty to protect and inspire each and every member of this historic Caravan in his righteous enterprise.
The Caravan is scheduled to travel on June 26 to the City of San Bernardino and from there go to the city of Indio/Coachella where it will be received by the coordinator in said town, Raciel García and representatives of the Government of said city. From this town, the Caravan will take the Interstate 10 Highway until it arrives in the City of Phoenix, Arizona, where we will be received by the coordinator of that entity, Lorena Schmidt, dignitaries of that city and the press. Once the scheduled work in that important city is finished, we will leave by the same route until we arrive in the city of Tucson, Arizona, where we will be received by the coordinator of the work in the entity, the lawyer/activist for human rights, Isabel García, the mayoress of the city and other dignitaries.
The next morning the route will continue until we reach Las Cruces, New Mexico and from there we will move to El Paso, San Antonio and Houston, Texas to later arrive in the beautiful City of New Orleans, Louisiana, which will be the penultimate city to the one that we will arrive before we outline to our final destination that will be the City of Talahassee, Florida (the capital of the state of Florida).
We will be in that city on June 30 and massive protests will be staged prior to the entry into force of the fascist law SB-1718, on July 1. That day a historic mega-march will take place, which will be replicated in other cities of the American Union to demand respect and dignity for our workers, and for a fundamental solution to the immigration problem.
There, an economic boycott against the state of Florida will be called, which will not be lifted until July 4, the date on which another anniversary of the independence of this great nation will be celebrated.
We will be there Mexican/Latino immigrants to bring the government and the right-wing people of the United States out of their historical amnesia and express to them respectfully, but firmly, that the heroic revolution of 1776 of this town erupted under the slogan of “No Taxes—No Representation AND Benefits” (No Taxation Without Representation & Benefits). We are all invited. We must all participate.
*Juan José Gutiérrez is the executive director of the Full Rights for Immigrants Coalition.