DeSantis Pushes Toughest Immigration Crackdown in the Nation
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 illegal 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 DeSantis describes as a response to President Joe Biden’s “open borders agenda,”
The bills would expose people to felony charges for sheltering, hiring and transporting immigrants who are in the country without legal permission; require hospitals to ask patients their immigration status and report to the state; invalidate out-of-state driver’s licenses issued to immigrants in the country without legal permission; and direct the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to provide assistance to federal authorities in enforcing the nation’s immigration laws.
Critics warn the bills will harm Florida’s economy existing population of immigrants in the illegally, estimated at more than 10 million.
Under the proposed new bills, a person could be charged with a felony for knowingly transporting, concealing or harboring immigrants in the country illegally, punishable by up to five years in prison. Although 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 immigrant in the country without legal permission 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.
www.yahoo.com/news/desantis-pushes-toughest-immigration-crackdown-123747547.html
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