This measure brings discrimination to a whole new level.
- ISABELA DIASReporter
***
Under the new legislation, local governments will be prohibited from providing funds to issue identification documents for undocumented immigrants and immigrants will be barred from using legally issued driver licenses from other states. (Currently, 18 states, Washington, DC, and Puerto Rico allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses.) Hospitals that accept Medicaid now will be required to collect immigration data on their admission or registration forms and report costs associated with any treatment of patients. The transportation of undocumented immigrants across state lines into Florida becomes a felony—punishable by up to 15 years in prison if the immigrant is a minor. Meanwhile, $12 million will be allocated to the governor’s so-called “Unauthorized Alien Transport Program” to move migrants to other states as a way to criticize the Biden administration’s supposedly “open border” policies.
In Florida, about one in five residents are immigrants and hundreds of thousands of US citizens live in mixed-status households. An estimated 900,000 people lack lawful status in the Sunshine State, which ranks among the top five states hosting undocumented agricultural workers. Without undocumented workers, the Florida Policy Institute projects, the industries that employ most undocumented workers—including construction, agriculture, retail, and hospitality—”would lose 10 percent of their workforce and the wages they contribute along with them.” In one year, the state’s GDP could drop by $12.6 billion.
***
lennyesq 