Ana Mengotti
Miami, (EFE).- Make the US Hispanic community get involved and participate in local elections and not only in the presidential ones is essential to avoid laws like the Florida SB1718dice Soraya Marquez, organization’s state director My Family Vote.
In an interview with EFE in Miami on the occasion of the entry into force last weekend of the new anti-immigrant law of Floridathe activist of Venezuelan origin stressed the need to mobilize the vote of Latinos in Florida in the face of the presidential elections of 2024 and the intermediate ones of 2026.
“The different sectors – he says – are understanding that this is not the policy we need in Florida and it is now when we can start a movement.”
marquez is very critical of the governor of florida, Ron DeSantisand with the state legislators who “irresponsibly” supported the ley SB1718 without thinking about the consequences -also of an economic nature, since it causes a shortage of labor in the most important sectors- and believes that it may have a “boomerang effect” for them.
“This law does not only affect the immigrant, it will affect us all, because our governor is using Florida as a political platform to send a message to the extreme right, which he needs to have on his side to win the primary elections,” he stresses. .
DeSantis, re-elected governor in 2022 with more than 59% of the votes, aspires to be the candidate of the Republican Party in the 2024 presidential election with an ultra-conservative electoral program in which the fight against the “invasion” along the Mexican border and irregular immigration is a central point.
marquez points out that the ley SB1718 it is “only the beginning” of a sequel of similar laws and asks the rest of the US to be warned against “an irresponsible person who does not measure the impacts, but the benefit that he can get to create the political base.”
Among other measures, Florida law establishes that a person who transfers an undocumented person to Florida from another state is committing a second degree felony and considers the fact that the transported person is a minor, even if they are a relative, to be an aggravating circumstance.
It also obliges companies with more than 25 employees to verify the immigration status of their workers and hospitals that accept the public health insurance (Medicaid) to ask patients whether or not they legally reside in the US.
Governor’s plans DeSantis in case of reaching the White House They are even harsher and include withdrawing the right to automatic citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants who are born in this country, a controversial measure that former President Donald Trump, who is the clear favorite in voting intention polls, had previously announced. in the Republican primaries.
In florida, a “Latino” state (26.7% of the population identified as such in 2020) and with a significant number of undocumented immigrants, which Márquez believes may exceed one million people, the rejection of the SB1718 law has manifested on the streets.
marquez He stresses, however, that voting has more direct and profound effects than protests and that at this “important moment” in Florida it is necessary to influence participation and not only in presidential or state elections but also in local ones.
«The problem we have with the Latino community is that they have not realized that the direct impact on their quality of life is not the presidential level nor the Senate level, it is the mayor of the city, the mayor of the county, the board school or sheriff’s offices,” he says.
In his opinion, Latinos are partly to blame for what Florida “is facing now”, for not having participated sufficiently in all electoral calls.
However, this is motivated by the fact that “there is no political structure, there is no structure that prepares candidates that really inspire the person who has already complied with their electoral registration to vote.”
My Family Vote Its ultimate goal is to forge a “Latino political power”, as it proclaims on its website. EFE
