The new immigration law is starting to make sense

Miami.– Immigrants Unorganized workers in various sectors of the Miami metropolitan area are beginning to feel the weight of SB 1617 legislation. immigration, It goes into effect July 1 in Florida.

“They told me not to go to work. They couldn’t take any chances,” Mario told DIARIO LAS AMÉRICAS, who has been growing strawberries in the homestead area for two years with less money than required by law.

“They don’t pay us more than five dollars an hour, but I can’t ask for more because I don’t have papers,” said a 25-year-old Guatemalan immigrant who crossed the southern border in February 2020.

Mario is married and has two children in his home country. “I have a family to support me. I will send you what I can. I still eat a little to save, but now, without strawberries, I go door-to-door looking for work. I fix gardens and paint walls. That’s what it takes,” he asserted.

The new state law, proposed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate, would require employers with more than 25 employees to verify the legal status of each worker through the federal E.-Check.

Employers who do not meet that requirement are subject to audits and fines of $1,000 per day found in violation of the law.

In Homestead, supporters of hundreds of immigrants, some with American-born children, marched outside City Hall to protest the state law.

Homestead, a city council of about 80,000 people on the outskirts of Miami, may be concerned about losing jobs to hundreds of undocumented immigrants who may soon find themselves homeless and loitering in public spaces.

Because of this concern, DIARIO LAS AMÉRICAS has contacted the municipal mayor’s office and is awaiting a response.

“We talked to the mayor’s office and they understand that this is a matter for the national government, not the state government, but nothing can be done,” noted Mario.

In the Miami-Dade County jurisdiction, where tall construction cranes announce new construction in downtown Miami, Santiago sells breakfast at a roadside cafe and notices fewer builders coming to breakfast.

“Earlier 15 or 20 workers would come. Now only eight or 10. “They tell me they fired people because they were afraid of the new law,” he declared.

Others pretend to be regular migrants, show third-party IDs, and don’t go to work for fear of detection.

“I understand that the state wants to protect its spending because there are more immigrants, but immigration is a matter of the federal government, they let people in because they didn’t issue work permits, that’s it,” Santiago exclaimed.

With or without a work permit, things are not as simple as they seem. There is no country that supports millions of immigrants or public opinion that allows it.