Newsletter Week of May 29
Why Florida's New Immigration Law is Troubling Businesses and Workers Alike
Senate Bill 1718, which takes effect on July 1, limits social services for undocumented immigrants, allocates millions more tax dollars to expand DeSantis' migrant relocation program, invalidates driver's licenses issued to undocumented people by other states, and requires hospitals that get Medicaid dollars to ask for a patient's immigration status. There will be penalties for those who violate new employment mandates.
US Border Patrol Chief is Retiring After Seeing Through End of Title 42 Immigration Restrictions
The head of the U.S. Border Patrol announced that he’s retiring. Raul Ortiz managed the Border Patrol and its roughly 20,000 agents through the COVID-19 pandemic and Title 42 emergency health restrictions that began in March 2020 and allowed agents to quickly return migrants over the southern border. He also oversaw the rollout of new policies on May 11 meant to discourage migrants from crossing without documentation while opening up other legal pathways. The number of crossings has dropped, and the border has not seen the high numbers of crossings or chaos anticipated by even President Joe Biden with the end of the restrictions.
An Immigration Reform Bill Focused on Dignity Has Bipartisan Support
Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) and Veronica Escobar (D-Texas) have joined forces to introduce a wide-ranging immigration reform bill. The Dignity Act, spanning nearly 500 pages, tackles various aspects of the immigration system that have long needed reform, such as asylum processing, visa backlogs and a path to legal status for millions of undocumented immigrants. This includes essential farmworkers, Temporary Protected Status recipients and Dreamers brought to the U.S. as children.
