Four civil organizations announced that they will file a lawsuit against the Florida Immigration Law, SB1718, which went into effect this weekend.
This has been the topic of conversation for the past few hours among many farm workers, laborers, or restaurant employees. This past Saturday, the SB1718 law came into force, which has been classified by the main civil rights organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), as the toughest immigration law in the country.
Law SB1718 now keeps undocumented migrants in Florida on edge. And while the protests multiplied this weekend, the first lawsuit against the legislation was announced, four civil organizations will challenge the policy of Governor Ron DeSantis.
The litigation will focus on section 10, which makes it a third-degree felony to transport uninspected migrants to Florida at the border.
It has been anticipated that the case will represent several people affiliated with the Florida Farm Workers Organization.
A representative of the American Immigration Council, Katte Melloy Goettel, explained the organization’s position on the law.
“We are fighting hard against these unconstitutional anti-immigrant laws,” said Melloy, one of the representatives of the four civil organizations that will challenge Governor DeSantis’ policy in court.
“It’s clearly unconstitutional, because one of the things it’s trying to do is take the place of the federal government that has always been in charge of immigration policy. What the governor and the government are trying to do is substitute the role of the federal government and that is illegal and unconstitutional,” added Melloy.
It has been anticipated that the case will represent several people affiliated with the organization of “Florida farm workers” and that they will be specifically suing Governor DeSantis for, as they allege, violating fundamental rights of people in the state.
Among the most rigorous points in the legislation is the obligation for companies with 25 employees or more to use the E-Verify system, to invalidate driver’s licenses and identifications issued in other states to unauthorized immigrants, according to this law in Florida.
In addition, hospitals that accept public health insurance (Medicaid) must ask and record whether or not their patients are legal residents, among other provisions.
“Unfortunately these measures are very damaging to immigrant communities and we don’t want people to live in fear and we don’t want other states to join in adopting illegal policies like this.”
According to the plaintiffs, there is still no defined date or an agreed district for the court presentation of the litigation, but they say it will happen this week.
