Florida Senator Anitere Flores should have learned from Small Businesses and Chambers on enforcement-only measures
by President of Somos A. Bustos on Apr. 05, 2011, under Secure Borders and Reasonable Immigration SolutionFlorida did not learn from the failed mistakes of Arizona. Evidently the recent Arizona anti-immigrant news did not make it to the shores of Florida in time. Had the southwestern news made it to Florida, Florida Republicans would not be re-inventing the failed policies of enforcement only measures with regard to immigration. Senator Anitere Flores introduced SB 2050 which is an e-verification program that accomplishes basically two things:
Specifically SB2040 requires employers to either:
- Register with E-Verify and check all new employees through the system; or
- Obtain from all new employees an enhanced identification card that has been issued by Florida since January 2010.
According a Voto Latino on the ground Florida representative, Florida has the toughest ID laws in the nation. Obtaining the new state-issued identification card requires proof of lawful residence before it can be issued.
Arizonan’s learned the hard way that anti-immigrant legislation runs our competitive labor away, and in fact, approximately 40% of Yuma, Arizona’s lettuce did not get picked and Arizona grocery stores had to import lettuce that costs the consumer more than what we are used to paying for. Not only do we see rising inflation in which petroleum affects virtually everything because of increased costs in transporting goods….we are now seeing higher food prices at the grocery stores because we are importing products.
The landmark anti-immigrant legislation that was promoted by Republican Senator Flores will have consequences with the small business community and chambers. I’m confident VOTO Latino, immigration advocacy groups and SOMOS REPUBLICANS will remind Floridians with regard to who was behind SB 2040 in 2012.
