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florida immigrant coalition
Immigrant, LGBTQ+ Rights Groups Issue Travel Warnings for Florida
"Whether you stay away, leave, or remain we ask that you join us in countering these relentless attacks. Help reimagine and build a Florida that is truly safe for and open to all, and where freedom is a reality, not a hollow campaign slogan."
Apr 12, 2023
Faced with persistent attacks from Florida Republicans, including presumed 2024 presidential candidate Gov. Ron DeSantis, immigrant and LGBTQ+ rights groups on Wednesday issued advisories for traveling to the southeastern U.S. state.
The moves by the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC) and Equality Florida follow the NAACP Florida State Conference voting unanimously last month to ask the national group's board of directors to issue a travel advisory for the Black community.
FLIC's advisory—issued as a website—comes as DeSantis pressures the GOP-controlled state Legislature to pass measures that would threaten Florida residents with felony charges if they provide undocumented immigrants with shelter, transportation, or work while also requiring publicly funded schools and hospitals to participate in the crackdown.
"Travel to all areas of Florida should be done with extreme caution as it can be unsafe for people of color, individuals who speak with an accent, and international travelers," the website warns. "Due to unconstitutional legislation supported by Gov. Ron DeSantis and introduced by legislative leadership, every county in Florida poses a heightened risk of harassment, possible detainment, and potential family separation based on racial profiling."
\u201c"The Florida Immigrant Coalition ... also issued a travel advisory today, urging reconsideration of travel to Florida and providing critical information about where immigrant travelers can learn more about their constitutional rights."\n\nMore here: https://t.co/Qr4PcD3B1G\u201d— Gabe Ort\u00edz (@Gabe Ort\u00edz) 1681323640
The coalition's site also notes that "naturalized and U.S. citizens of African, Latin American, Central American, Native American, Asian, and Pacific Islander descent are not immune from racial profiling, heightened scrutiny, and false arrest."
Additionally, as the site explains:
Florida is poised to pass laws creating criminal penalties for medical providers who provide medically necessary care for transgender youth, weaponizing the courts to shred existing child custody agreements and reassign transgender youth to an unsupportive parent, and severely restricting access to prescribed medical care for transgender adults.
Florida has passed or is poised to pass bills that restrict access to reproductive healthcare, including a near-total abortion ban, which threatens to force people to travel out of state or seek unsafe, illegal abortions.
Equality Florida similarly pointed to the "passage of laws that are hostile to the LGBTQ+ community, restrict access to reproductive healthcare, repeal gun safety laws and allow untrained, unpermitted carry, and foment racial prejudice" when warning that the Sunshine State "may not be a safe place to visit or take up residence."
Equality Florida executive Director Nadine Smith said in a statement that "as an organization that has spent decades working to improve Florida's reputation as a welcoming and inclusive place to live, work, and visit, it is with great sadness that we must respond to those asking if it is safe to travel to Florida or remain in the state as the laws strip away basic rights and freedoms."
"While losing conferences and top students who have written off Florida threatens lasting damage to our state, it is most heartbreaking to hear from parents who are selling their homes and moving because school censorship, book bans, and healthcare restrictions have made their home state less safe for their children," Smith continued.
"We understand everyone must weigh the risks and decide what is best for their safety, but whether you stay away, leave, or remain we ask that you join us in countering these relentless attacks," she added. "Help reimagine and build a Florida that is truly safe for and open to all, and where freedom is a reality, not a hollow campaign slogan."
\u201cI never thought I would see the day where it is too dangerous to visit my home state and family. I had to spend an hour on the phone with my grandmother the other day explaining why I can't visit her this summer.\u201d— Alejandra Caraballo (@Alejandra Caraballo) 1681322092
Bryan Griffin, a spokesperson for DeSantis, told The Florida Times-Union that the new advisories were a "political stunt" and "we aren't going to waste time worrying about political stunts but will continue doing what is right for Floridians."
DeSantis had responded similarly to the NAACP's move last month, saying, "what a joke" and "I'm not wasting my time on your stunts."
The NAACP request came not only amid battles over various laws but also after DeSantis rejected the new Advanced Placement African-American Studies course for high school students.
"Our question to Gov. DeSantis is, 'What sort of future are you fostering for Black Americans throughout Florida while eradicating our historical contributions to this nation?'" said NAACP Florida State Conference chair Adora Obi Nweze. "There is no 'feel-good' version of the horrors and inequalities that Black Americans have faced or continue to face."
"Slavery, Jim Crow, and lynchings followed by ongoing school segregation, mass incarceration, police brutality, housing discrimination, healthcare disparities, and [the] wage gap are all tough truths to face," she argued. "Misrepresenting the reality of our history promotes ignorance and apathy."
Although the request for an NAACP travel advisory was submitted as a resolution to the national board last month, review and approval of resolutions won't begin until May and are expected to go through July. However, board chairman Leon W. Russell has already weighed in, saying that "the recommendation from our Florida State Conference is a clear indication of just how egregious Gov. DeSantis' actions are."
"Any attempt to intentionally erase or misrepresent Black history is a direct attack on the foundation of comprehensive education. Be clear—Black history is American history," Russell declared. "We are proud of our Florida State Conference for meeting this moment with the equal aggression and intention that is a necessary response to these attacks. Any location in America where our history has been erased does not offer us, or our children, a bright future."
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DeSantis' Anti-Immigrant Bills Denounced as 'Vile and Disgusting'
"Under the law Florida is currently considering, a mother who drives her undocumented child to school could be arrested and charged with felony 'transportation,'" said one advocate.
Apr 11, 2023
Rights advocates in Florida are warning that several anti-immigration measures will tear at "the fabric" of the state and risk turning family members against one another as the state GOP seeks to secure votes for Gov. Ron DeSantis in the 2024 presidential election by attacking immigrants across the state.
DeSantis, who is widely expected to run for president next year, is pushing the Republican-controlled state Legislature to pass Senate Bill 1718 and House Bill 1617, which would threaten Florida residents with criminal charges if they provide undocumented immigrants with shelter, work, or transportation and would require publicly funded schools and hospitals to participate in the GOP's anti-immigration crackdown.
In a state where more than 1 in 5 residents are immigrants and the healthcare, tourism, and agricultural sectors rely heavily on employees who came to the U.S. from other countries, Florida Immigrant Coalition executive director Tessa Petit said last month the legislation "has the potential to make felons out of every single Floridian."
"From the soccer mom taking her children's friends to a game, to the clergy opening his place of worship to the children of God," said Petit. "No one is exempt from this bill. The state is mandating who you can and cannot love, allow into your place of worship, business, or home; who you and your family can befriend, and how to interact with your neighbors, friends, and family who are immigrants in our state. It is time for Floridians to speak up and question the spineless puppet legislators who are supporting these inhumane and pointless divisive policies [and] destroying our Florida Way!"
Under the bills, The New York Timesreported Monday, Florida residents could be charged with a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison, for "knowingly" transporting, concealing, or harboring undocumented immigrants.
There is nothing in the bill, said American Immigration Council (AIC) policy director Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, that would stop the state from prosecuting people who transport their undocumented family members in their vehicles or a bus driver who takes undocumented children to school.
\u201cYep. Here are the elements of the crime:\n\n(1) transports, into or within Florida, a person who the defendant;\n(2) knows (or should have known); is \n(3) a person \u201cwho illegally entered the US \u2026 and has not been inspected by the Federal Government\u2026\u201d\n\nThat\u2019s it. No exceptions.\u201d— Aaron Reichlin-Melnick (@Aaron Reichlin-Melnick) 1681179513
As the Times reported, hospitals would also be required to ask patients their immigration status and report undocumented patients to the state; while immigrants could still ostensibly get care, critics say the policy would likely cause many to avoid medical care out of fear.
The bills would invalidate undocumented immigrants' drivers licenses and prevent them from being admitted to the state bar, while DeSantis has also proposed eliminating in-state college tuition for undocumented students and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.
New penalties would be imposed for employers who hire immigrants without work authorization. Six percent of the state's workforce was made up of undocumented immigrants in 2016, the AIC reported, and immigrants make up 35% of healthcare support employees, 38% of construction workers, and 49% of farming, fishing, and forestry workers.
"This is vile and disgusting, particularly in a state whose cultural vibrancy comes from waves of immigration," said Public Citizen president Robert Weissman.
The state's ACLU chapter warned the legislation, which is expected to pass in the coming weeks, will "quickly turn Florida into a vigilante, 'show me your papers' state" where residents are afraid to help other community members for fear of criminal charges.
\u201cThis could quickly turn Florida into a vigilante, "show me your papers" state whereby private citizens are demanding proof of immigration status from individuals prior to providing transportation in order to stay clear of the bill\u2019s penalties.\nhttps://t.co/VC8jLt1SEE\u201d— ACLU of Florida (@ACLU of Florida) 1681155350
Journalist Dan Froomkin suggested that with Republican voters nationwide showing support for increasing deportations of undocumented immigrants and ramping up border security measures and opposing policies to provide undocumented people with a pathway to citizenship, DeSantis is opening people across his state up to potential prosecution in service of his expected presidential campaign.
"This is not a 'crackdown,'" said Froomkin. "It is the adoption of cruel and extremist measures to punish undocumented human beings and those who would treat them humanely, in order to win the GOP's race to the moral bottom."
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