Does Florida’s law apply to migrants who are seeking asylum, have TPS or DACA?
SB 1718 passed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is considered anti-immigration by human rights advocates.
SB 1718 passed by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis is a headache for migrants in Florida. The legislation, which will go into effect on July 1, 2023, provides for measures and penalties for undocumented immigrants residing in or entering the state.
According to estimates by the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington DC-based think tank, Florida is home to 772,000 undocumented immigrants.
The Florida law, approved last May 10, contains a series of measures that worry the migrant community in this state and are even criticized for violating some human rights.
According to the document signed by Republican DeSantis, SB 1718:
- Mandates hospitals to collect and submit data on the costs of providing medical care to undocumented immigrants.
- Mandates private companies with more than 25 employees to use the E-Verify program to determine the legal status of workers they hire. In addition, it establishes penalties for companies that employ undocumented immigrants.
- Invalidates driver’s licenses in the 19 states that issue them to undocumented immigrants.
- Provides for penalties for those who transport undocumented migrants, if they do so knowing the legal status of such persons.
- Invalidates identification cards issued to immigrants in other states.
- Prohibits local governments from issuing identification cards.
Does Florida law apply to migrants who are doing paperwork?
In light of the fear of detention of undocumented migrants by any state authority, experts on the subject have said that only the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can detain a migrant because of his or her legal status.
On the other hand, an immigration attorney explained to El Nuevo Herald what happens to migrants who are currently applying for asylum (Humanitarian Parole), Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).
Héctor Benítez Cañas clarified to the U.S. media that the new law of the governor of Florida does not apply to immigrants who are processing any of these three types of documents.
The immigration attorney explained that SB 1718 only directly affects immigrants who do not have any type of documents.
For this reason, he pointed out that those who entered the United States through the land borders without documents; or those who arrived with some type of visa, but stayed in the country without complying with the specificity of such permit, but are currently in the process of asylum, TPS or DACA, will not be affected by the Florida law.