HOMESTEAD, Fla. – An advocate for the Farmworker Association of Florida said there’s anxiety in the community over a new immigration bill signed into law this week by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The wide-ranging law requires employers to check worker status through E-Verify, raises penalties for human trafficking, bans undocumented people from getting IDs and drivers licenses and requires hospitals to report costs for their care.
In talking to Claudia González, fear is the biggest takeaway. González is an organizer for Florida’s Farmworker Association of Florida in Homestead.
“The community is worried,” she said. “They want to leave for other states. Some of them want to leave back to their countries.”
The community is facing fear, with concerns about going to work and seeking medical help when sick. Homestead is historically a migrant community because of its agriculture.
“Homestead has undocumented,” González said.
She estimates there are more than 20,000 migrant farm workers in the area.
These are families in complicated immigration situations, meaning a wife may have documents, but the husband doesn’t. So now they all have to move because they don’t want to be separated.
When it comes to Florida’s economy, González reminded us that it is heavily based on tourism, not just agriculture.
“The persons working at hotels, most of them don’t have a status,” she said.
Then there is agriculture.
González describes Homestead as an oasis of tropical fruit that cannot be grown anywhere else in Florida.
Without workers, fruit will likely have to be imported, raising costs and prices at the supermarket, she said.