The Governor’s race in Florida is heating up, as both candidates enthusiastically campaign through the sunshine state taking their message to Florida voters. With the Mid-term elections only weeks away, a national spotlight is shining on Florida’s Governor’s race, pitting Democratic liberal Andrew Gillum, against Republican hardliner Ron Desantis.
As a state with one of the nation’s largest immigrant populations, Florida remains at the forefront of the fight over immigrant’s rights vs. immigration enforcement.
The harsh reality is that as a result of Trump’s aggressive enforcement “zero tolerance” policies, millions of immigrants in Florida live in daily fear of harsh enforcement measures being used against them, including workplace, Greyhound bus, Amtrak and other random raids undertaken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
Florida is also the home of millions of Dreamers, children brought to the U.S. at a young age, who lack immigration status through no fault of their own. Many of these children have no memory of the foreign country they were born in and often don’t find out that they are not Americans until they are required to provide official documents, only to learn the sad truth about their immigration predicament from their parents.
The Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program for Dreamers was cancelled abruptly last year and since that time, only those who previously held that status under the Obama program have been eligible to file renewals. Millions of other young, innocent Dreamers who were not eligible to apply for DACA status before it was cancelled, languish in anonymity and uncertainty, without a Florida ID, Driver’s License, Work permit or Social Security card.
As a Republican held state, Florida is one of the few large immigrant states which adheres to Real ID and prohibits immigrants in the state without legal immigration status from obtaining a Driver’s Licenses or Florida ID.
Both candidates for governor have received criticism for their seemingly extreme immigration views. Desantis has been widely criticized for his unapologetic enthusiastic support for “Trump” and his “zero tolerance” policy, including his political ad portraying his young children as building a “Wall” with their toys, to make America great again. Gillum has also been criticized for his comments about “abolishing ICE,” in its current form “to be replaced with a more compassionate and focused agency that actually keeps us safer.” With so much at stake for the future of Florida’s vulnerable immigrant population, it’s important to have a clear picture of how each candidate stands on major immigration issues.
A summary of the candidates views on immigration:
Ron Desantis (Republican):
Supports Trump’s strict immigration enforcement measures “Zero-Tolerance”, favors expedited deportation of “illegal immigrants” and is a big proponent of building the Wall.
Opposes DACA status and opposes providing a “Pathway to citizenship” for Dreamers.
Opposes comprehensive immigration reform, often called “Amnesty” to allow immigrants to obtain legal immigration status.
Supports Real ID and is against allowing immigrants without legal status to obtain a Driver’s Licenses or Florida ID..
Supports E-Verify to require all businesses in Florida to check the immigration status of employees prior to hiring
Andrew Gillum (Democrat):
Opposes strict immigration enforcement measures, favors compassion over enforcement and opposes Real ID, E-Verify and opposes wasting tax payer funds on building a Wall, when funds could be utilized more effectively with high tech border security options.
Supports DACA and favors providing a “Pathway to citizenship” for Dreamers.
Supports comprehensive immigration reform, often called “Amnesty” which will allow immigrants to obtain legal immigration status.
Supports allowing immigrants without legal status to obtain a Driver’s Licenses and Florida IDs.
