Gov. Ron DeSantis Puts Anti-E-Verify Republicans On Notice

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Feb 21, 2020

As a battle over a strong statewide E-Verify law heats up in Tallahassee, Florida Governor Rick DeSantis is cautioning Republicans who seek to neuter the law over the ire they’ll face from conservative voters.

Florida is set to pass a E-Verify law that will prevent businesses from hiring illegal immigrants as workers. Currently in the Florida Senate committee process, big business interests are seeking to institute special exemptions for industries that commonly hire illegals.

DeSantis is pushing back hard against the effort to put free passes in the legislation for the agricultural industry. Another area of contention is over the law’s enforcement mechanism. Elements seeking to neuter the Florida E-Verify system want employers to merely promise they aren’t hiring illegals, as opposed to making them definitively prove it.

DeSantis was clear about warning Republicans who try to neuter the e-Verify proposal when speaking to the press outside of the state capital on Wednesday.

DeSantis’ warning to Republicans who tacitly support giveaways of cheap labor and non-enforcement of immigration law should be taken seriously by any legislator who considers themselves a conservative, and relies upon a conservative constituency.

Senator Tom Lee, who represents Florida’s 20th district, is cautioning that Governor DeSantis could veto the entire bill and force lawmakers to start over if they stuff it full of exemptions for scofflaw big business interests. He says that the effort to make employers merely promise to hire illegals is no different than instituting an impotent “honor system.”

The law currently will mandate that businesses in Florida verify their employees’ legal status by July of 2022.