Document Date: November 5, 2021
More than 4.5 million Floridians, 21% of the population, were born in another country. Nearly half are not naturalized U.S. citizens. They are our neighbors, our colleagues, our friends. They have been targeted by anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies at the local and state level.
While the country has been confronted with the harsh consequences of this rhetoric, Florida remains firmly in the Trump era as its political leaders continue to build their legacies on the backs of immigrants. With the 2020 presidential election, many of the Trump Administration’s cruelest policies have been rolled back. While progress is being made on the national front, our country has a long way to go to correct the injustices of a broken immigration system. Florida’s political leaders, meanwhile, continue to push harmful narratives painting immigrants as criminals and actively engaging in unnecessarily cruel anti-immigrant actions, such as sending state resources to the Texas-Mexico border. Local governments still have the authority – and responsibility – to serve and protect their communities without regard to citizenship status.
To mitigate against the harms of forced participation in federal immigration detention and deportation efforts, local governments must adopt policies that:
Immigrants are already part of our communities. We should be working together to find thoughtful solutions that work for us all.
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