Florida immigration law: how will out-of-state driver’s licenses be affected?
The law that has been signed by Governor Ron DeSantis will also have a strong impact on some immigrants with out-of-state driver’s licenses; as of July 1, one of Florida’s toughest anti-immigrant laws will go into effect.
Earlier this month, Ron DeSantis signed one of the most restrictive anti-immigrant laws in the United States after Florida’s Republican-majority Congress passed the bill on a partisan vote.
The 43-page law includes provisions to invalidate driver’s licenses and identification cards issued from other states to “unauthorized immigrants,” which will undoubtedly generate a strong impact on the state’s economy.
“About 60% of tourism in Florida comes from driving,” Felipe Sousa Lazaballet of the Hope Community Center in Orlando told KSHB.
He added “then, many of these people who come to the state to spend money here will no longer be able to do so or risk committing a felony.”
In addition, the law could also result in a third-degree felony charge for someone transporting people without legal status into the state, which Lazaballet sees as even more dangerous, as even a person’s life could depend on an immigrant driver.
“This is a big problem. It will obviously disproportionately affect people who do that for a living. People who drive trucks and even people who drive ambulances, for example. We are talking about a law with such a large scale that it would be to the detriment of Floridians and everyone in the country,” he said.
A statement with which Samuel Vilchez Santiago of the American Business Immigration Coalition also agreed.
“The long-term effect is that people will not want to come to Florida. That’s very troubling for our economy. That’s going to create a problem not just for Florida, but across the country, with all these trucking companies having to figure out who they can send to Florida, who they can’t send to Florida, and whether that person can continue to do the work they’re doing somewhere else,” he told the aforementioned media outlet.
To date, 19 U.S. states issue driver’s licenses to immigrants under the argument that roads are safer when drivers are tested and fewer uninsured people will be behind the wheel.
Days ago, a group of truck drivers asked through TikTok to demonstrate against Ron DeSantis’ law and not to enter the state to distribute basic products, which generated a vacuum on the shelves of some grocery stores.
Under the slogan “Protecting Florida from Biden’s border crisis” next July 1, SB-1718 will go into effect, which also establishes the obligation for hospitals to collect information on the immigration status of patients and submit it to state authorities.