Days before new Florida law takes effect, undocumented workers fear for their future
On the edge of the Everglades, among plant nurseries, fields of avocado trees and dragon fruit cactuses, migrant workers rest under a plastic tent, sitting at long picnic tables eating chili-rice tamales wrapped in banana leaves or carnitas with tortillas out of reusable containers.
They talk about their children and they laugh at each other’s jokes. But there is one thing on everyone’s mind that nobody really wants to talk about. And when it comes up, the playful banter stops.
Florida’s new immigration law, set to take effect on July 1, has undocumented workers worried — and afraid. They fear losing their jobs. They fear being forced to leave the state. And they fear having no choice but to return to their home countries, leaving their lives in South Dade, where some have been for decades, behind.
“We are worried, and not sure if in the future we will have work,” Sara Perez said of the new law, which she believes targets undocumented workers like her. “We are not doing anything bad, and we are not doing anything wrong.”
The new immigration law is packaged as a far-right counter to what the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature sees as President Biden’s inaction on border policy, and is meant to discourage undocumented immigrants from entering the state.
Parts of the recently passed law will take effect July 1, with other parts beginning next year. But fear of its effects has already affected communities of undocumented workers across the state. The law, which bars businesses with more than 25 employees from hiring undocumented workers, has ignited intense anxiety even among immigrants who have lived in the state for decades, jolting the delicate balance that has long existed between employers and employees. The law also sets aside $12 million dollars for Gov. Ron DeSantis’ migrant relocation program, restricts the validity of identification cards and drivers licenses issued by other states, and makes it illegal to transport undocumented people into Florida from outside the state. It also penalizes workers who use false documentation to gain employment.
For the past 30 years, Perez has worked among the rows of plants in the farms and nurseries in South Dade, raising her children off the money she earns planting, weeding, watering and picking. Her two children attend West Homestead Elementary School, one in first grade and the other in fifth, where she says they have good teachers and good friends. Since the law was signed, she stays up at night worrying she may have to separate her children from their friends and their life in Florida and move the family back to Guatemala, where she was born.
“With the new law, I am always thinking about the papers,” she said. “It’s not going to be the same. We are not going to be free.”
