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TALLAHASSEE Led by Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican with presidential ambitions, the Florida Legislature is considering a sweeping package of immigration measures that would represent the toughest crackdown on undocumented immigration by any state in more than a decade.

Expected to pass within weeks because Republicans have supermajorities in both chambers, the bills are part of what Mr. DeSantis describes as a response to President Bidens open borders agenda, which he said has allowed an uncontrolled flow of immigrants to cross into the United States from Mexico.

The bills would expose people to felony charges for sheltering, hiring and transporting undocumented immigrants; require hospitals to ask patients their immigration status and report to the state; invalidate out-of-state drivers licenses issued to undocumented immigrants; prevent undocumented immigrants from being admitted to the bar in Florida; and direct the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to provide assistance to federal authorities in enforcing the nations immigration laws.

Mr. DeSantis has separately proposed eliminating in-state college tuition for undocumented students and beneficiaries of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA, who were brought to the United States as young children. The tuition law was enacted by his predecessor Rick Scott, now a Republican U.S. senator, in 2014.

The new measures represent the most far-reaching state immigration legislationsince 2010, when Arizona, a border state that was the nations busiest corridor for human smuggling at the time, passed a law that required the police to ask people they stopped for proof of immigration status if they had a reason to suspect they might be in the country illegally.

We need to do everything in our power to protect the people of Florida from whats going on at the border and the border crisis, Mr. DeSantis said at a news conference on Feb. 23 during which he unveiled his proposals and spoke from a lectern emblazoned with the words Bidens Border Crisis.

Backers of the new bills say they are not opposed to immigration but are trying to make sure that newcomers follow the law.

Theres a right way and a wrong way to come here, Debbie Mayfield, a Republican state senator, said during a hearing on one of the bills. We have a process in this country. Were not trying to hurt or harm people who are here legally.

Stronger controls on illegal immigration have been a key issue for Republicans, including among many Hispanic voters in border regions who have expressed alarm over the large numbers of unauthorized border crossings, about 2.5 million last year. There has also been broad Republican support for increasing deportations of those who are in the country illegally, with eight in 10 Republicans saying that boosting deportations was important, according to a Pew Research Center survey last year.

Florida saw a wave of migrants landing by boat from Cuba and Haiti earlier this year, overwhelming local resources in the Florida Keys and adding to an undocumented population in the state that is already estimated at about 800,000.

Health care for undocumented immigrants in the state cost nearly $313 million during the 2020-21 fiscal year, according to state figures, and Mr. DeSantis warned that continuing influxes threatened to increase crime, diminish jobs and wages for American workers and burden the states education systems.

But critics warn the proposed new legislation, by targeting some long-established residents of the state, will sow fear, promote racial profiling and harm Floridas economy, and some Republican business leaders have come out against it.

The legislative push runs counter to a trend elsewhere in the country to integrate the nations existing population of undocumented immigrants, estimated at more than 10 million.

Over the last decade, and especially since the pandemic, even some Republican-led states have introduced policies to provide undocumented residents with health care, access to higher education, drivers licenses and worker protections.

Arizona voters last year repealed restrictions on higher education for undocumented immigrants and adopted in-state tuition for everyone who attends high school in the state. The State Legislature is taking up a proposal to offer financial aid to such immigrants.

There has been steady growth of inclusive policies across the country and the political spectrum, said Tanya Broder, a senior staff attorney at the National Immigration Law Center who tracks immigration legislation.

Governors Eric Holcomb of Indiana and Spencer Cox of Utah, both Republicans, recently called on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform, citing the value of foreign workers to their states. In March, Mr. Cox signed a law extending health coverage to all low-income children in his state, regardless of immigration status.

Texas is moving in the other direction, at least on the border. Republican state lawmakers have proposed a significant expansion in the immigration control program pushed by Gov. Greg Abbott, who, like Mr. DeSantis, is a Republican.

Draft legislation presented in March calls for the state to take on some of the authority now exercised by the federal government, creating a border police force and making it a state felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, to illegally cross the border into Texas.

Texas has already deployed National Guard troops on the border and, along with Arizona, has bused newly arriving migrants to cities around the country.

Both Republican governors have accused President Biden of losing control of the situation.

When Biden continues to ignore his legal responsibilities, we will step in to support our communities, Mr. DeSantis said in January.

Last year, the Florida governor commissioned two private planes to fly unwitting Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Marthas Vineyard in Massachusetts, fueling outrage and prompting lawsuits. In January, he declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard as vessels ferrying Cuban and Haitian migrants docked in the Florida Keys that month and in February.

Neither the state nor the federal government has data on how many undocumented immigrants reached Florida during the latest border surge last year, but there are signs that the state has been heavily affected.

As of March 31, the immigration courts in Florida had 296,833 cases pending, more than any other state, dwarfing New Yorks 187,179 and Texas 184,867 cases.

Under the proposed new bills, a person could be charged with a third-degree felony for knowingly transporting, concealing or harboring undocumented immigrants, punishable by up to five years in prison. While sponsors have said the legislation is not intended to target ordinary Floridians in their day-to-day lives, its potential applications are broad, legal analysts said: An American adult child of an undocumented immigrant driving a parent, a lawyer driving a client to court or someone driving a sports team that had a player without U.S. legal status could be exposed to criminal charges.

Similarly, the law could also apply to a landlord who rents property to an undocumented family or someone who has an undocumented person living in their home, such as a housekeeper or caretaker.

As the bill is written, there are no exceptions, said Paul Chavez, a lawyer affiliated with the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is preparing to challenge the legislation in court if it passes.

Enforcing these measures would open the door to racial profiling, critics said, as police officers are charged with determining who is documented and who is not.

You are looking at a bill that creates an atmosphere where you could get targeted whether you are an immigrant, citizen or tourist, said Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet, the executive director of Hope CommUnity Center, a nonprofit in Apopka, Fla., that provides immigrants an array of social services. You dont know peoples immigration status by looking at them, he said.

One of the most heavily debated provisions is one that targets hospitals, which would be required to collect data on the immigration status of patients and to submit it to the state. The law would not prohibit treatment, but critics warn that it would discourage undocumented immigrants from seeking care.

The legislation calls for new state penalties to be imposed on employers who hire immigrants without work authorization, and it is drawing opposition from the business community in a state struggling with a labor shortage and where the unemployment rate was 2.6 percent in February.

More than one in five Florida residents are immigrants, and 722,000 American citizens in the state live in households with one or more undocumented immigrants.

The state is home to a large senior population that relies on care often provided by immigrants, many of them undocumented; its agricultural sector employs many undocumented immigrants; and its tourism industry draws millions of visitors from around the world to Florida beaches, restaurants and theme parks, where service workers are often immigrants.

What might make DeSantis look good with the extreme right in a national presidential election bid is just about the most destructive and hurtful thing he could do to his own state, said Mike Fernandez, who runs a private equity group in Florida and is a member of the American Business Immigration Coalition, a national bipartisan group of business leaders advocating a cohesive national strategy on immigration.

Felice Gorordo, an entrepreneur in Miami who is trying to attract companies to Florida and create a tech hub, said the proposal to eliminate in-state tuition for undocumented students was counterproductive.

We would be driving these students to other states when we need to do everything possible to keep our homegrown talent, he said.

Unlike New York, Washington and Denver, which at different times have struggled to find housing or shelters for flocks of newly arrived migrants, there has been little evidence in Florida of migrants lingering on the streets or crowded into homeless shelters.

The Florida legislation, introduced on the first day of the session that ends in May, is expected to be fast-tracked by the Republican leadership.

I wholeheartedly thank and commend Gov. Ron DeSantis for having the courage to lead on this issue, said Blaise Ingoglia, the state senator who sponsored the bill that passed the Senate Rules Committee last month. This problem is now at our doorstep, and Florida will not stand for it anymore.

After the Biden administration expanded Title 42, a pandemic authority that empowers agents to swiftly expel citizens of several countries back to Mexico, the number of migrants intercepted by U.S. authorities at the border has plunged in recent months to the lowest levels since Mr. Biden took office.

Some Venezuelans who crossed the border before the expulsion policy was applied to them have reached Tallahassee, renting apartments a short drive from the State Capitol.

Erika Rojas, a Venezuelan American who runs a nonprofit, Hola Tallahassee, that assists newly arrived Spanish speakers, said many had found jobs cleaning offices, working in restaurants or doing construction work.

She scrolled recently through a string of messages in a WhatsApp group where job seekers exchange tips and those who have been in the state longer share information.

A Venezuelan chef wrote in the chat that he had 15 years of experience but was willing to work as a dishwasher. The main thing is to get my start, he said.

Another Venezuelan in the group wrote, Im an expert welder, and Im at your service.

Maria Virginia, 32, a lab technician in her hometown, Maracaibo, Venezuela, said she had been working nights, mopping floors and emptying trash bins at a hospital in Tallahassee.

By day, she has been taking an online class to become a certified phlebotomist, having applied for asylum and received a work permit.

If I accomplish my goals, Ill stay in Tallahassee, she said.

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DeSantis Pushes Toughest Immigration Crackdown in the Nation - The New York Times

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida holds a copy of his new book as he speaks to a crowd at the Adventure Outdoors gun store in Smyrna, Ga., on March 30, 2023.AP Photo/John Bazemore

Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to repeal their access to in-state tuition rates for undocumented students.

The immigration package is, according to The New York Times, one of the toughest in over a decade.

At least 12,000 DACA recipients benefit from in-state tuition in Florida.

As part of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis's extensive immigration reform legislative package, undocumented students could lose access to in-state tuition rates.

The legislation would repeal a 2014 law that gave undocumented students and beneficiaries of the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects those who came as children from deportation, access to in-state tuition rates. That law was enacted by DeSantis' predecessor Rick Scott, who is now a GOP Senator.

This immigration package would also make it a felony to shelter or transport an undocumented immigrant in the state, invalidate out-of-state driver's licenses for undocumented immigrants, and also require hospitals to ask patients about their immigration status to report to the state, among other measures.

The legislation would be one of the toughest immigration measures proposed in over a decade and is expected to pass within weeks, The New York Times reported. The Florida governor first announced these sweeping proposals in February as a way to "fight Biden's Border Crisis."

"With this legislation, Florida is continuing to crack down on the smuggling of illegal aliens, stopping municipalities from issuing ID cards to people here illegally, and ensuring that employers are hiring American citizens or those here legally," DeSantis said in a February statement announcing the package.

"Florida is a law and order state, and we won't turn a blind eye to the dangers of Biden's Border Crisis. We will continue to take steps to protect Floridians from reckless federal open border policies."

Republicans have supermajorities in both the state House and Senate and the legislation could impact the 40,000 undocumented higher education students in Florida, of which a little over 12,000 are DACA-eligible, according to data from the Higher Ed Immigration Portal.

Story continues

"We need to do everything in our power to protect the people of Florida from what's going on at the border and the border crisis," DeSantis said at a news conference in late February.

DeSantis' proposal has garnered pushback from business groups, who say the move is not only "unfair" but could hurt the workforce.

"At a time when we need thousands more educated and there are thousands of jobs vacant because there aren't enough people to take the jobs, here we have young people willing to serve the county and now there's a proposal to deny them that opportunity," Eduardo Padrn, a former board chair of the Association of American Colleges and Universities said in a March statement from the American Business Immigration Coalition.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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DeSantis wants to eliminate in-state college tuition for undocumented students and beneficiaries of the Obama-era DACA program - Yahoo News

The agricultural labor shortage continues to be a major issue impacting farmers and consumers across the country. The American Business Immigration Coalition held a press conference discussing immigration. Enrique Sanchez, intermountain state director for the ABIC, says this is a national security issue.

It is critical that we address this issue urgently to keep grocery store shelves stocked and lower food prices for Americans everywhere. We cannot underestimate the importance of this issue to our national security. As we have heard before, food security is national security. The USDA predicts that this year, our country will import more agricultural goods than we export. This should be a wake-up call for all of us.

Sanchez says reforming immigration policy took a big step forward in 2021, but proponents couldnt get it across the finish line.

In 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Farm Workforce Modernization Act for the second time with bipartisan support. However, the Senate failed to take up the legislation, and we lost an important opportunity to make much-needed reforms to address the labor shortage crisis. We need the Senate to do its job, negotiate improvements to the House legislation, and get solutions onto the floor that help our nations farmers continue to produce and help our nations families afford to put food on their tables.

CongressmanMike Simpson (R-ID) has long been working on immigration reform in Washington, D.C. He spoke during the ABIC conference and talked about where the discussion goes from here.

The Judiciary Committee is busy with a lot of things. We need to get them focused on immigration. And its hard to focus just on ag immigration when whats going on at the border is going on. And we need to let them know that this is different than whats going on at the border right now. And, in fact, passing this would probably help solve some of the problems with whats going on at the border. Republicans are worried about inflation. Studies have been showing that if you get a legal workforce for agriculture. It will help with inflation. It will help with food costs. What agriculture needs is a stable, reliable workforce.

Simpson and several other presenters all said its going to take a grassroots effort to get immigration reform passed in Washington.

But what we need is a concerted effort by agriculture throughout the country. And remember, we had 300 Ag groups that supported it, and not just Ag groups, but Chambers of Commerce, National Bankers Associations, all supported this bill that we had. We need all of them to be calling representatives on the Judiciary Committee, representatives of leadership in the House and in the Senate, to let them know how important this bill is, and what it means to our food supply, and, as we mentioned, to national security.

For more information on ABICs immigration reform efforts, go to abic.us.

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Congressman: Immigration Reform Will Take Grassroots Effort | - Southern Farm Network

FAIR Take | April2023

Before adjourning for recess, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) introduced the H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act, a bill designed to reform the employment-based visa programs to reflect Congress original intent in protecting American workers when foreign workers are recruited andhired.

The H-1B visa program is designed to allow American companies to bring in foreign workers in specialty occupations, while the L-1 visa allows for intra-company transfers into the United States. Though the programs were intended to fill a companys legitimate employment needs, both have instead been widely exploited to displace American workers, leading to depressed wages and adverse workingconditions.

Even with the U.S. economy facing difficulties and thousands of layoffs hitting the H-1B reliant tech industry, outsourcing firms continue to overlook Americans and recruit foreign labor. So far this year, layoffs have increased 396% when compared to last year, for a total of 270,416 total jobs cut. The tech industry, however, faces the worst of it, already losing 102,391 jobs this year. That represents an increase of 38,487% more tech jobs lost than in the same period last year. The tech sector is, in fact, on track to exceed the single-year record for the number of jobs lost set for that industry back in 2001, following the collapse of the dot-combubble.

The H-1B and L-1 Visa Reform Act has several provisions aimed at protecting American workers and increasing transparency. For example, the bill would require employers to post H-1B positions on a public website. It would improve wage requirements and establish higher penalties for violators. It would require all employers to first recruit Americans and attest that they have not displaced a U.S. worker upon hiring a foreign worker. The bill would also put in place a rule to prevent companies that employ more than 50 people from having more than 50% of their total workforce as H-1B or L-1 employees. It would ensure too that L-1 visa applicants seeking to open a new U.S. office for a foreign company do so, making L-1 visas for such applicants valid only for 12 months and allowing just two visa extensions for employees of bona fide newoffices.

Perhaps most significantly, it would restructure the H-1B visa program into one that rewards those who have advanced degrees and have studied in the United States. This new approach is a marked improvement over the current random lottery and would favor the best and brightest for H-1B visas, providing nonimmigrants who received bachelors and advanced degrees while physically present in the United States, particularly in STEM fields, more opportunities to be selected. This would help ensure that highly intelligent foreign students coming to the United States to be educated at some of the worlds leading universities use their newly acquired skills to benefit American companies and the Americaneconomy.

According to Sen. Grassley, The H-1B and L-1 visa programs were established to fill in gaps in Americas high-skilled workforce, not supplant it. Unfortunately, some companies have exploited these programs to replace American workers with cheaper labor, which ultimately harms American workers and foreign labor alike. Our bill puts American workers first and ensures that the programs promote fairness for allworkers.

Sen. Durbin specifically noted the effect of these practices, saying, [f]or years, outsourcing companies have used legal loopholes to displace qualified American workers and replace them with foreign workers who are paid subpar wages and put in exploitative workingconditions.

The legislation is a longstanding priority for both Senators, who first introduced legislation to reform the programs in2007.

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Bipartisan Legislation Introduced to Protect American Jobs - Federation for American Immigration Reform

A number of high-profile Democratic lawmakers in New York are pressuring Governor Hochul to extend health care coverage to immigrants in the country illegally, and they have a novel selling point: New Yorkers wont have to pay the tab, as taxpayers elsewhere in the country would be picking up the bill.

Representatives Jerrold Nadler and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sent a letter to Ms. Hochul this week asking her to develop a plan that would allow the federal government to cover undocumented workers in the state. We believe that healthcare is a human right, regardless of immigration status, the two members of Congress wrote.

The campaign to get these immigrants federally subsidized health care, the Coverage for All movement, says Ms. Hochul can request federal dollars from the Biden administration for the initiative. Washington state and Colorado received such waivers, which allow them to use Medicaid funds to insure immigrants, and the subsequent federal funds last year.

Before Mr. Nadler and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Mayor Adams also called on Ms. Hochul to develop such a proposal. In a letter to the governor, Mr. Adams said coverage of these immigrants would help drive down costs because they would no longer have to use emergency services and drain hospital resources. Statewide, there are about 400,000 illegal immigrants who do not have health insurance, according to immigrants-rights groups.

In his letter, Mr. Adams blamed the lack of action on the proposal on structural barriers, rooted in racism and bias, that perpetuate disparate health outcomes in immigrant communities.

The deadline for Ms. Hochuls budget proposal was April 1, but she has yet to deliver. She has said that she would not include a proposal for a health care expansion for immigrants, though these politicians are hoping to slide it in at the last moment.

The campaign marks the latest steps in Democrats long march to the left in the hopes of appeasing immigration advocates.The party failed to get immigration reform near the top of President Obamas agenda in 2009 during his first term, and once the Tea Party was swept into office in 2010, there was little hope of revisiting the issue.

The remaining years of the Obama administration saw stalled negotiations with members of Congress, leading him to issue a 2012 executive order called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which established new protections for illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children.

Following President Trumps immigration and border policies, many Democrats moved even further toward establishing legal protections and benefits for illegal immigrants. In a 2020 Democratic presidential primary debate, when asked if they would decriminalize crossing the southern border, two-thirds of the candidates raised their hands in support of the idea.

During the first two years of the Biden administration, immigration advocates say little progress has been made. According to a study from the Migration Policy Institute, the courts and events in Latin and Central America have made it harder to control the flow of illegal immigrants.

Between 2021 and 2022, deportations increased to 72,100 from 59,000. That is still far lower than during both the Obama and Trump administrations, which saw average annual deportation levels at 344,000 and 233,000 respectively.

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New York Democrats Push for Federally Funded Health Care for ... - The New York Sun