House passage sends governor a bill that inflicts political cruelty on innocent children and employers wrestling with severe labor shortages
TALLAHASSEE – An anti-immigrant bill that creates fear and uncertainty for a broad range of immigrants throughout Florida, including children, is ready for Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature after the state House gave its approval on Wednesday. The measure, HB 1355, passed by the Senate last week, is bad for the innocent children who receive shelter and care from groups like Catholic Charities, creates uncertainty for immigrant workers and also for employers facing severe labor shortages.
Another shameful bill that would create the Immigrant Removal Fund” is winding its way through the state Legislature during the waning days of the session. It would set aside $12 million to remove immigrants, including children, from Florida to states like Delaware, President BIden’s home state.
These measures are part of DeSantis’ anti-immigrant package tragically designed to rid Florida of unaccompanied minors and other immigrants. He previously issued an executive order to block license renewals of shelters for immigrant children, like those run by Catholic Charities.
“The mendacity of the governor’s actions, sustained by the state Legislature, is to promote DeSantis’ political ambitions using taxpayer dollars while every day Floridians and employers pay the price of his cruelty ,” said ABIC Action Co-Chair Mike Fernandez, who also is Chairman of MBF Healthcare.
“One in four Floridians is an immigrant. The governor has no regard for children, immigrants, including Florida’s 50,000 Venezuelans or 56,000 Haitians on Temporary Protected Status, who fear that, with many work permits still pending due to administrative delays and backlogs, this bill will mark many in their community as deportable even if they are authorized to be in the country.
“These harmful, politically motivated tactics are like what we, in the Cuban-American community, experienced in our childhoods, and which we are now witnessing with great shock in Ukraine. As Floridians, employers, and consumers who benefit from and are strengthened by immigrants, we will object today, and every day, including in November.
ABOUT ABIC Action
ABIC Action is the political arm of the American Business Immigration Coalition (ABIC), a bipartisan coalition of over 1,200+ CEOs, business owners, and trade associations across 16 mostly red and purple states. ABIC Action promotes common sense immigration reform that advances economic competitiveness, provides companies with both the high-skilled and low-skilled talent they need, and allows the integration of immigrants into our economy as consumers, workers, entrepreneurs, and citizens. ABIC Action works to win bipartisan solutions at the state and federal levels on the way to winning a path to citizenship for as many of the 11 million undocumented immigrants as possible.