The World Is Going Backwards With The Immigration Bill

On May 10, 2023 news broke that Florida Governor DeSantis signed into law Senate Bill 1718. This bill will start to make drastic changes for private employers and even hospitals in Florida. Although May was the first time many heard about the bill it actually has been in the works since early March. Between March 7-10th the bill was created and was then introduced to the Senate on March 14th. The bill then passed the Senate on April 28 and passed by the House on May 2nd. It was presented to Governor DeSantis on May 9th which he then passed the following day. 

When I heard that the bill was passed - If I’m being honest - I wasn’t surprised because every day it feels as if the world is going backward. At the same time, I started to wonder exactly what this bill would do. So I decided to look more into it and found the summary of the bill that laid out exactly what will happen in the following months and the criminal charges one could face.  

The points listed below outline some of the rules and consequences under the Immigration Bill

• “Adds the crime of human smuggling to the list of crimes that allow for prosecution under the Florida RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization) Act”

• “Beginning July 1, 2023, requires private employers with 25 or more employees to use the E-Verify system for new employees (the bill retains the current law requirements for public employers and contractors and subcontractors thereof to use the E-Verify system)”

• “Amends the crime of human smuggling to provide that a person commits a third degree felony when he or she knowingly and willfully transports into this state an individual whom the person knows or reasonably should know has entered the United States in violation of the law and has not been inspected by the Federal Government since his or her unlawful entry from another country” 

• “Prohibits a person from operating a motor vehicle if his or her driver’s license is issued by another state which exclusively provides such a license to undocumented immigrants who are unable to prove lawful presence in the United States when the licenses are issued”

• “Requires any hospital that accepts Medicaid to include a question on its admission or registration forms inquiring about whether the patient is a United States citizen, is lawfully present in the United States, or is not lawfully present in the United States”

I found many of these things shocking especially because this is taking away the privacy of patients at hospitals since now they can ask about your immigration status and report it quarterly to the Agency for Health Care Administration. This is literally breaking doctor-patient confidentiality. Plus when you go to a hospital people shouldn’t have to worry about whether their immigration status will be used against them.  Furthermore, when it comes to being stopped while in Florida if you have a driver's license from a state that allows immigrants to have a driver's license then you must provide them with documentation that you are a U.S. citizen. This is incredibly saddening because even if you’re from another state you can still be affected because as soon as you step foot into Florida you can possibly be targeted.  

Another thing that caught my attention was the third-degree felony. I researched how much time a third-degree felony is in Florida which is “an offense punishable by up to 5 years in prison, a $5000 fine, and 5 years of probation”. This then made me wonder what crimes can get someone a third-degree felony. Some examples are “Grand Theft, Drug Possession Charges, Drug Trafficking, Burglary of a Structure, Battery on a Law Enforcement Officer, Resisting Officer with Violence, a third time DUI which took place within 10 years of a prior DUI conviction, Aggravated assault,  Possession of cocaine, Carrying a concealed firearm without a license”. Which has nothing to do with human smuggling which is brought up a lot in the Immigration Bill. Furthermore, they are considering “human smuggling” as a “racketing activity” under the RICO act. You can go to prison for up to 20 years under the RICO Act which is extremely shocking. For example, if you were to be found smuggling immigrants in the state of Florida they can decide to use the RICO Act and charge you with 20 years instead of being charged a 3rd-degree felony since smuggling is now considered a racketing activity. It’s shocking because first of all there is no need for a bill like this and secondly there’s a huge jump from the 3rd-degree felony which is 5 years in prison to then 20 years under the RICO Act

Florida Governor DeSantis is using the Immigration Bill to criminalize Immigrants and has people “smuggling” them in to serve way more time or about the same time as other crimes that are far worse. This type of targeted bill that attacks immigrants is just unfortunately another example of the world going backwards to being a less and less inclusive and safe place for everyone.