Florida governor signs tough immigration law

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a state immigration law imposing new requirements on many employers and adding penalties for those employing undocumented workers.

The presidential hopeful said Florida’s law will counter ineffective federal regulation.

“The Biden Border Crisis has wreaked havoc across the U.S. and has put Americans in danger,” DeSantis said in a news release. “In Florida, we will not stand idly by while the federal government abandons its lawful duties to protect our country. The legislation I signed today gives Florida the most ambitious anti-illegal immigration laws in the country, fighting back against reckless federal government policies and ensuring the Florida taxpayers are not footing the bill for illegal immigration.”

Neza Xiuhtecutli, executive director of the Farmworkers Association of Florida, told wfla.com that the bill could cost thousands of Florida farmworkers their jobs. The group said perhaps 300,000 farmworkers in the state, out of a total Florida farmworker population of 500,000,  are undocumented, according to the wfla.com report.

The legislation, according to the release, makes using E-Verify mandatory for any employer with 25 or more employees, imposes enforceable penalties for those employing undocumented workers and enhances penalties for human smuggling. Additionally, the bill prohibits local governments from issuing ID cards to undocumented immigrants, invalidates ID cards issued to undocumented immigrants in other states and requires hospitals to collect and submit data on the costs of providing health care to undocumented immigrants, the release said.

This legislation will require private employers with 25 or more employees to use the E-Verify system for new employees beginning on July 1 this year, according to the governor’s office.

The bill also expands penalties for employers who fail to comply with E-Verify requirements, including the possible suspension and revocation of employer licenses and the imposition of specific penalties on employers that knowingly employ undocumented immigrants.

The legislation also creates a third-degree felony for an unauthorized immigrant to knowingly use a false ID document to gain employment and prohibits a county or municipality from providing funds to any person or organization for the purpose of issuing IDs or other documents to an undocumented immigrant, according to the release.

In addition, undocumented workers will no longer be permitted to rely on out-of-state driver's licenses.

Florida Senate Bill 1718 also enhances the crime of human smuggling when smuggling a minor, when smuggling more than five people, and when the defendant has a prior conviction for human smuggling, the release said. This bill also adds the crime of human smuggling to the list of crimes allowed for prosecution under the Florida Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) Act.

This legislation will additionally require each hospital that accepts Medicaid to include a question on admission or registration forms that asks whether the patient is a U.S. citizen or lawfully present in the U.S. or is not lawfully present in the U.S., the release said. Hospitals will be required to provide a quarterly report to the Agency for Health Care Administration detailing the number of patients that visited the emergency department or were admitted to the hospital in each category of the citizen status question on the admission or registration forms.