Miami. The state of Florida, in the southern United States, approved on Wednesday a law with tough measures against irregular migration, promoted by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, whose candidacy for the White House in 2024 seems imminent.
DeSantis signed the text during an event in Jacksonville, in the northeast of the state, under the slogan “The border crisis of (Joe) Biden”, the Democratic president whom he accuses of not addressing illegal immigration.
“The Mexican drug cartels have more to say about what happens on the southern border than our own US government,” said the governor, justifying the need for the new Florida law.
The text will enter into force on July 1. Among its most prominent measures, it will require companies with more than 25 employees to use E-Verify, a federal system to verify the immigration status of the people they want to hire.
In addition, it will force hospitals that accept public Medicaid insurance to collect data on the immigration status of their patients, which could lead undocumented migrants to avoid receiving treatment, according to opponents of the rule. On the other hand, the transport of undocumented persons from another state to Florida will become a crime punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
Farewell to driver’s licenses
And authorities will stop recognizing out-of-state driver’s licenses issued to irregular migrants, as well as ban funding for local programs to provide identity documents to undocumented foreigners.
“Florida penalizes immigrants for having the misfortune to be born in troubled countries and having the courage to seek peace and prosperity here,” Tessa Petit, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, said in a statement sent this Sunday. Wednesday.
DeSantis, 44, a rising figure on the American right, has promoted a very conservative agenda in recent months on issues related to education, immigration or the right to abortion.
