Advocates for South Georgia immigrant communities are concerned about a new law in Florida.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a measure that makes it illegal to transport undocumented immigrants into the state.
Andrea Hinojosa leads Southeast Georgia Communities project, a nonprofit organization that routinely drives undocumented farm workers into Florida.
“We’re either taking someone to the U.S. [Customs and Immigration Services] office in Jacksonville, taking someone to a medical appointment or someone needs to fly out for an emergency and they ask us to take them to the airport,” Hinojosa said.
Under the new law, those would be felony offenses starting July 1.
Apart from denying these workers access to medical care, she’s worried about how the new law will be enforced anytime Latinos enter Florida.
“It concerns us that this might happen to us, that this might happen to me, that I will be stopped for a traffic stop and I’m going to be vetted like I’m some criminal,” she said. “How are you going to identify an immigrant?”
DeSantis said the new law is aimed at restricting human smuggling.
It was part of a series of new measures that he called “the most ambitious anti-illegal immigration laws in the country.”
The law specifies higher penalties for transporting undocumented minors and for transporting five or more undocumented people at the same time.
It leaves Hinojosa conflicted about traveling to Florida.
She has family members there.
“It puts butterflies in my stomach just thinking about the nerves that we have to deal with here,” she said.
The Georgia Latino Association for Human Rights advises her and other Latinos not to take any chances.
The organization urges “anyone who speaks with an accent” to stay away from Florida.
