For many of the immigrant In Florida Everyday life has changed radically in the last few months and is now characterized by fear.
Some try to only drive for essentials and go to the supermarket less often. Others have stopped taking their children to parks and are afraid to leave them at school.
There are people who rarely go out, avoid traveling to other states, going to the doctor, or even closing their business and moving.
Many are on high alert after Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a new immigration law in May.
The law is considered one of the strictest in the country and criminalizes the transport of goods immigrant Individuals who lack permanent legal status invalidate any form of identification and prevent local governments from issuing them ID cards.
Hospitals must also ask patients about their immigration status and companies with more than 25 employees must check whether their employees have legal authorization.
Certain aspects of the law are already in force. Others begin to rule later.
DeSantis, who is in the midst of a busy campaign to become the country’s president, signed the bill in hopes of winning the vote of conservative voters and criticized President Joe Biden’s administration for overexploiting the massive arrival of migrants border with Mexico allowed.
“You’re going to see a massive surge of illegal aliens, you have a duty to make sure those borders are secure,” DeSantis said as he signed the bill, a day before the end of federal immigration restrictions in place during the pandemic.
Since then, immigrant People interviewed by the Associated Press said their daily routines had changed due to fear of imprisonment, separation from their families and deportation to their countries of origin.
One woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the risk of imprisonment, said the change in the law made her feel a fear similar to that which led her to leave her country.
“I imagined that we would have a better life and be quieter, but that wasn’t the case,” he said. “There is always the fear that something could happen to us.”
The Honduran woman, a 31-year-old single mother, fled the violence in her country with her four daughters in 2021 in search of peace USA.
She applied for asylum and worked as a painter to support her daughters and her mother, who crossed the border illegally six years ago and has no legal status.
Before the new law was passed, her mother helped her by driving the girls to school. Now she fears the police will stop and arrest her for driving without a license.
“Try not to go out too much and be careful,” he explained.
Because of the new law, the Honduran woman lost her job.
In Florida Around 4.6 million foreigners live there, the vast majority from Latin America and the Caribbean.
According to the most recent 2017 Pew Research Center survey, at least 825,000 of them do not have immigration status.
