On May 10, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signed Senate Bill 1718 into law, which now puts in danger the livelihood of many immigrants within the state. Gov. DeSantis has made it very clear of his disagreement with President Joe Biden’s methods on immigration, so he took action for his majority-Republican state. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants, many of whom entered the U.S. with the goal of providing for their families, are now fleeing and leaving the state in fear of being imprisoned or losing their jobs. 

Details of Senate Bill-1718 include:

• Requirements of private employers with over 25 or more employees to use the E-verify system for new employees, starting July 1st
• Employers will receive a penalty for those who fail to comply to the new system, which can be some sort of fine to pay off which could reach $5,000. 
• Third degree penalty if an undocumented immigrant has false ID documents in order to gain employment, in which that person will receive a max five year prison sentence. 
• Prohibition of County and municipality from providing any immigrant status or any other source of documentation. 
• Immigrants can no longer rely on out-of-state licenses.  They will be prohibited from using and prohibited from getting a in-state license.

The list goes on and on about the effects of what this new law can do to all undocumented people within the state. The immigration law can negatively impact the agricultural industry because of how many of their workers are immigrants themselves.

On May 12, a few days after the law was passed, hundreds of immigrants refused to show up to work, which left a lot of the farmers unable to harvest their plantation completely. Because of this, many Americans are now forced to work those low paying jobs in order to maintain the system.

“Many Americans aren’t lasting more than a day within the fields,” stated CNN News. 

On May 20, anonymous TikTok users planned to boycott all Florida-made products in order for the state to lose money. These anonymous TikTok users have also planned a protest for the whole Hispanic and Latino community, which will take place June 1, where all Hispanics and Latinos are to not go to work in order to revolt for what they believe is right and for the crisis that is happening to their fellow brothers and sisters down south. 

Even truckers are now planning to boycott Florida in response to the law being passed.

“My truck will not be going to Florida at all, ”stated an anonymous source on Freight Waves news. “I’m pretty sure we can all come together as a Latino community and boycott Florida as a whole because what they are doing to our brothers and sisters out there is not fair”.

As the days move on, the crisis in Florida will slowly start to take its affect.