“He’s been good for Florida except for this insane bill,” he said. Many plan to leave, they added, if they haven’t already left.īut some are taking the risk, waiting to see if Florida actually enforces the law.Īs for DeSantis, Williams said he’s not the only business owner in the state who say the new measure is steering them away from DeSantis in his bid for the GOP’s presidential nomination. USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida spoke to a dozen immigrant workers in the Florida Panhandle, some who have lived in the state for more than 20 years, others who recently migrated.Īll said their community is worried. “This is creating incentives for people to leave Florida and find work in other states.”įlorida's food and agriculture businesses paid $53.76 billion in taxes, according to a 2023 report by Feeding the Economy. “The consequences of those departures are going to be clear to many in the business community,” he added.
“Even if, say 25% of undocumented workers were to leave, that’s 200,000 people,” said Samuel Vilchez, Florida director of the American Business Immigration Coalition, which is urging Congress to enact laws that expand legal immigration. The new immigration limits will compound that, many say.īut as he campaigns across the country, DeSantis cites the new law as proof of his tough record on immigration, casting himself as smartly and aggressively conservative in trying to distinguish himself from his top Republican rival, former President Donald Trump.įlorida businesses, though, are already losing a portion of the almost 800,000 undocumented workers estimated to be in the state. I know he’s doing it for politics, but the end results, it’s going to be hard.” Economy could be rocked even if small share of workforce leavesįlorida employers in construction, restaurants, landscaping and many other service sectors already are struggling to fill jobs during what has been a post-pandemic, sustained stretch of low unemployment. “It’s almost like he’s doing it on purpose. “How can one man pass one law and destroy all these businesses in Florida?” said Williams, owner of Quincy Tomato Company. Many business owners, though, refuse to speak publicly about the measure, fearing it could antagonize DeSantis.
'It's definitely chaos': How immigration law impacts Florida restaurants, construction The new law imposes tough criminal penalties on human traffickers, restrictions on undocumented residents, and new employment requirements that will next year include random audits of businesses suspected of hiring illegal workers.īut amid signs that thousands of migrants and their families are now choosing to leave Florida, including many legally in the U.S., even some of the governor's supporters are questioning the new law. Ron DeSantis, now campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination, pushed Senate Bill 1718 through the state’s GOP-dominated Legislature and signed it into law last month in Jacksonville.Īt the bill signing, DeSantis condemned President Joe Biden’s border policies for causing a massive influx of illegal arrivals, and said, “We have to stop this nonsense, this is not good for our country,” adding, “this is no way to run a government.” The departures are sparking fear that a labor shortage will leave crops unpicked, tourist hotels short of staff and construction sites idle. “We couldn’t run a business without them.”īut with one of the strictest laws in the nation taking effect July 1 aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration, Florida is being rocked by an exodus of migrant workers. “We all love them to death,” said Williams, whose family has been farming tomatoes for decades. In his packing plant, Graves Williams, a lifelong Republican, proudly explained the skill, labor and manpower needed to provide tomatoes across North America, a feat that he says wouldn’t be possible without immigrant laborers. On a June afternoon in Quincy, Florida, hundreds of gloved hands move 3,000 pounds of green tomatoes by-the-minute from plastic bins to conveyor belts to boxes to be sold across the country. Brenno Carillo, The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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