By Barrington Salmon
Last week, my best friend, who lives in South Florida, was explaining the hellscape that undocumented immigrants have been forced to endure since Gov. Ron DeSantis – in his slavish devotion to nastiness and cruelty – mimicked the federal government and called a special session in which the Republican-dominated Legislature passed a law that would further punish them.
DeSantis has savaged lawmakers for not doing enough to support President Donald Trump’s campaign promise to detain and deport as many as 20 million undocumented immigrants. He has worked assiduously to engineer Florida’s reactionary version of “how many ways can we screw over immigrants?”
In addition, DeSantis announced in February that the Florida Highway Patrol, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and the Florida State Guard had entered into agreements to help U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement round up migrants.
Immigration-rights activists and lawyers report that ICE agents have set up checkpoints, raided people’s homes, and showed up unannounced at construction sites, grocery stores, immigration hearings, and a range of public places where immigrants — with and without papers — hang out.
An assortment of once-safe spaces where men, women, and children congregate are now danger zones. So far, agents haven’t been allowed to invade hospitals or churches.
At any moment, ICE and/or cops deputized by ICE can stop someone under a dubious pretext and demand proof that they are in the state and country legally.
While state and city officials claim that enforcement actions are focused on undocumented immigrants, these actions will have ripple effects across millions more people living in immigrant families, including U.S.-born citizen children, the Kaiser Family Foundation says.
According to its data, as of 2023 47.1 million immigrants lived in the United States, including 22.4 million non-citizens, of whom the Pew Research Center estimates 11 million are undocumented.
There are other immigrants whose lawful status is at risk if they lose temporary protection status (TPS), which many of them are under Trump. That includes almost 1.2 million immigrants who either have or are eligible for TPS, the more than 530,000 active DACA recipients, and people in the country with pending asylum cases.
Millions of others living in immigrant families also are likely to be affected, KFF said.
“Many undocumented immigrants live in families with mixed immigration statuses that may include people with lawful status and U.S. citizens,” researchers said. “As of 2023, 19 million, or one-in-four children in the U.S., had an immigrant parent, including one in ten (12%) who are citizen children with a non-citizen parent.”
Meanwhile, about 4.4 million U.S.-born children live with an undocumented immigrant parent.
‘People are afraid’
I talked to Thomas Kennedy of the Florida Immigration Coalition, a grassroots movement that includes community organizations, farmworkers, youth, advocates, lawyers, and union members.
“We’re seeing or have heard of checkpoints in Gadsden County,” he said. “In South Florida, we’re seeing heavily armed agents carrying semi-automatic weapons, involved in specific pickup/raid operations, mainly at people’s homes.”
Kennedy — who said both he and his parents have been undocumented at some point — reported that immigrant communities are awash with fear.
“People are afraid, worried, preoccupied. But they still have to do the day-to-day. Most people are resilient, trying to navigate the maze,” said Kennedy. “Cops are acting as immigration, asking for papers. Theoretically, they need to have some sort of reason to make a stop. Traffic violations are easy. People can be stopped for loitering or suspicion of some type.
“It wasn’t great before but it’s getting worse.”
Kennedy recounted the case of a University of Florida student here on student visa studying Food Resource Economics who was picked up by ICE because of expired tags.
“Now he’s at Krome,” Kennedy said when we spoke in a week ago. Felipe Zapata-Velásquez has subsequently been deported to Colombia.
None of what we are seeing in the immigration crackdown sphere is new, Kennedy reminds us.
He said a group of activists have met and protested at the ICE/Miramar Processing Center since 2017, where unmarked vehicles leave and come back on Wednesdays full of undocumented men, women, and children.
Advocates are fighting back with lawsuits, protests in Tallahassee and points across Florida, as well as engaging in other forms of civil disobedience and opposition to these tactics, but DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier have threatened lawsuits against those who resist while also threatening to withhold state funds from offending municipalities.
Fort Myers is a case-in-point.
The City Council there voted against but then voted in favor of an ICE agreement (it had failed on a tie vote) — the about-face coming three days after Uthmeier sent a letter warning that DeSantis could remove councilmembers from office unless they approved the agreement, whereby the federal government deputizes Ft. Myers police officers to act as immigration enforcement.
“We were never told this vote could expose us to becoming labeled as a sanctuary city despite the city’s continued lawful cooperation with ICE. That omission is critical to the lack of efficacy that we were displayed,” council member Darla Bonk said during a recent meeting.
Under the 287(g) federal-state task force model, city police officers receive training allowing them to question people about their immigration status and detain them if they are subject to deportation.
‘Cruelty’
Floridians for Immigrant Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union assert that “Florida’s anti-immigrant laws that weaponize programs against lawfully present immigrants and their families, separate families, harm DREAMERS, require local resources to be spent on enforcing immigration law, must be ended.
“Cruelty is not an immigration policy. Policies that make Florida a ‘show your papers’ state are un-democratic and do not align with our values.”
Representatives from both organizations note that one out of every five people in Florida was born outside the United States, making the state one of the most diverse in our country.
“It is critical that every single person in our state is able to live, work and travel without fear of violence, harassment and discrimination. As a state with a vibrant and unique immigrant community, we must ensure the movement for immigrant justice is a reality in Florida,” they say.
Further, the activists argue, “local governments should decide how local resources are spent and local law enforcement should spend their time serving local communities — not enforcing federal immigration law.
Policies like SB 168 — approved in 2019 to outlaw “sanctuary cities” in Florida and requiring local law enforcement to cooperate with ICE — and new laws passed this spring requiring cops to perform street-level immigration enforcement — contribute to a climate of fear and demonization of immigrants.
These laws will tear families apart; further weaken trust in law enforcement by encouraging racial and ethnic profiling; endanger communities by discouraging victims and witnesses from reporting crime; and waste taxpayer money by forcing local police to do ICE’s job at taxpayer expense.
A larger question Floridians should be asking is: Who are we as a state? What are our values? What do we stand for? And what do we want as Floridians and Americans?
DeSantis and his culture war crusaders are on the front foot and have capitalized on their recent success with a firehose of legislation, policies, lies, and bullying. But those opposed to his cruel, reckless assault on immigrants have to fight back.
“Now they are empowered,” Kennedy said of DeSantis’ ramped-up anti-immigrant campaign. “It’s extremely concerning with law enforcement’s involvement. It’s costly, a liability, and affects public safety. Most cops don’t want to be ICE, but some will abuse it.”
Journalist Barrington Salmon lived and wrote in Florida (Miami and Tallahassee) for almost 20 years. He is a 2017 Annenberg National Fellow (University of Southern California) who currently freelances for publications, including the National Newspaper Publishers Association/Black Press USA, Trice Edney Newswire and The Washington Informer. Salmon lives in the nation’s capital and can be heard on his video blog “Speak Freely with Barrington Salmon and NNPA’s “Let It Be Known.”
Cisco Williams says
it’s ok,if we as a nation is not having to support, feed,house,and provide medical care for them and not be able to provide proper and equal care to our elderly and disabled. We are the only country that does not recognize that it has borders and most of the people coming in are seeking things that we are not even able to give our own citizens. I am not a Democrat or a Republican,I am just relaying common sense, our elderly and our veterans are really hurting. I also believe that we should tax income for Social Security up to $400,000 dollars and Medicare the same, this would make the system solvent through the year 2100,so no I am not some ideolouge,just common sense and good math in both cases.
Al says
Who are we as a state? We are a state that doesn’t want all these BS people here. I feel they should shut down any business that hires illegals and fine any property owners that let them on their property to work.
If we don’t enforce immigration laws then what other laws should we just throw out? If you don’t like Florida then go somewhere with the rest of the screwballs. You’ll be happy having the Neverending protest and yelling about everything. I’ll stay here and enjoy my life without needing illegals to mow my lawn or watch my kids or even pick my food.
what's next? says
so what do we do about this?
Pogo says
@Thank you, Mr. Salmon (and FlaglerLive, for putting this forward)
… at the risk of inspiring the degenerate goons whose boot is on this country’s neck — how long will it be, one wonders, before the cretins begin exhuming the dead for deportation?
Jake from state farm says
The title of this article is misleading. It falsely implies that the topic concerns immigrants who are here legally, but that’s simply not the case. In reality, unless you are a Native American, every one of us is, in some way, an immigrant or descendant of immigrants. The history of this country is built upon waves of migration, and to frame the debate as something it is not does a disservice to the conversation. It’s puzzling why some on the left feel the need to distort the narrative and push an agenda that doesn’t accurately represent the facts. Instead of fostering productive dialogue about immigration, they seem more focused on creating division and confusion. Why can’t we have a clear, honest discussion about the real issues at play? That issue is people entering the country illegally and those that are here legally as a guest.
Laurel says
“Hitler formed the SA [Sturmabteilung, meaning ‘assault division’] in Munich in 1921, drawing membership from violent anti-leftist and anti-democratic former soldiers (including the Freikorps) in order to lend muscle to the young Nazi Party, using them like a private army to intimidate opponents. According to the Nuremberg Military Tribunal, the SA was ‘a group composed in large part of ruffians and bullies’.
Many of the SA were former soldiers, upset with the way they had been treated after World War One. Germany’s defeat in the war had come as a surprise to the German people, which led to a theory that the brave German army had been ‘stabbed in the back’ by the politicians.
Many Germans hated the government for signing the armistice in November 1918 – and saw the government as the ‘November Criminals’. Hitler used these terms in many speeches to further turn people against the Government.
Speaking politics in public was potentially a dangerous matter at the time. Recognizable by their brown uniforms [‘Brownshirts’], similar to those of Mussolini’s Blackshirts, the SA functioned as a ‘security’ force at Nazi rallies and meetings, using threats and outright violence to secure votes and overcome Hitler’s political enemies. They also marched in Nazi rallies and intimidated political opponents by breaking up their meetings.
When fights broke out, the Weimar police appeared powerless, with law and order usually restored by the SA. This enabled Hitler to claim that the Weimar regime lacked leadership and power, and that he was the person who could restore Germany to law and order.”
– Historyhit.com
Sound at all familiar? If you allow it to continue, you are complicit.
JC says
Title is misleading. It should be: “Florida to Illegal Immigrants: Get Lost.”
I know plenty of legal immigrants (including my father) who later became US Citizens via obtaining US Citizenship. Almost all of them are Anti-Illegal Immigrants and they like Trump policies on illegal immigrants, being super hard on them. They all say it isn’t right for them to cut the line, and they need to follow the rules like all the other immigrants who legally follow the correct process.
From my experience, the ones who focus a lot more on illegal immigrants are naturalize born US Citizens. The ones I know who are the hardest on illegal immigrants and legal immigrants.
Pierre Tristam says
Nothing misleading about it. The “illegal immigrant” card is a shield for the broader message, particularly since neither legal nor undocumented migrants hurt the economy: to the contrary. They’re its salvation. This is nothing less than a replay of the Know-nothing attacks on immigration. One way to foster civilized dialogue on immigration, incidentally, is not to flout the law and shred constitutional protections. Once you stop doing that, by all means let’s talk, though we recall not that any months ago how Trump and his lapdogs in Congress scuttled the most far-reaching (and conservative) immigration reform law proposed in half a century. So again: spare us the fake complaints and unmistakable dog whistles.
Ed P says
[WARNING: Once again, the comment below cites tendentious information to set up an inaccurate premise. The Tallahassee Democrat did not report that undocumented migrants cost the state $660 million in health care. It reported that the DeSantis administration issued a report claiming the undocumented cost the state that sum, then devoted the majority of the article to debunk the claim: “the report depends on patients disclosing their own immigration status, something many don’t do.” “The state’s financial estimate, however, does not take into account how many immigrants who have entered the country illegally actually pay their medical bills. It also does not account for the numbers of those who did not report their legal status to hospitals, meaning the true costs can’t be quantified…. At some county hospitals, the percent of patients in the emergency department who declined to answer was as high as 63%. The state’s methodology has some policy analysts concerned. Alexis Tsoukalas with the Florida Policy Institute called the process “flawed.” “Moreover, it is important to consider the myriad contributions that immigrants – including those without a documented status – make to the Sunshine State.”” Ed P’s comment is, to be kind, flawed. Read accordingly. Ed P: please don’t keep making us waste time correcting you. Your comments will simply be denied publication next time. Don;t use this site to disseminate disinformation. We (and you) have plenty of other venues for that. Thanks.–FL]
Why didn’t Barrington Salmon ask the question: Do Floridians think it’s fair that undocumented immigrants cost the residents $660 million dollars in 2024 just for health care? (Tallahassee Democrat March 11, 2025)
The rebuttal that these same undocumented immigrants paid 1.8 billion in taxes is squishy at best. First because a large percent of their “estimated” earnings ( earnings are a sketchy estimate) are sent back home and not spent. Second, because legal citizens pay the equivalent taxes but don’t receive “free” healthcare.
Thirdly, what other aid was provided to this group?
Maybe we should elect Gavin Newsom as our Governor so he can Californianize Florida.
Yahoo news. California will spend a staggering 8.4 billion to cover Medi-Cal for undocumented illegals in 2024-2025.
Burn it down says
Ha the gop terrorist out to divide and eliminate rights! Any of the people with no criminal records they sent to the death camps would be 1000x better leaders than these racist terrorist are! I pray we get to send the gop and their supporters to the concentration camps they built!!!
jimmy says
First of all they should start with Melania and then all of the farms and hotels especially the theme parks. Diaper don is cutting the farmers and hotel workers some slack and stiffing it to everyone else.
Eastern says
Over the last hundred years we have developed a system of cheap labor. By keeping the number of legal immigrants low we have encouraged illegal immigration. By dehumanizing them as illegal or criminal we foster a certain amount of hatred towards them so as to deny them access to the same protections in their labor as legals have. That keeps the cost of their labor down. As the pendulum swings we are now in a period where hate has become a campaign issue. Trump who hires illegals himself is benefiting from the most cruelty he can extract. It’s making MAGAs feel good. At some point the lack of enough laborers will force businesses to pressure the administration. The end result will be increased numbers of legal immigrant allowed. We could have got there without the cruelty.
JC says
Pierre: You must live in an alternate universe because these are illegal immigrants. Please go outside your bubble and try to have a conversation with legal immigrants, including those who later obtained their US citizenship. Almost all of them are 100% against illegal immigrants since they broke the law, simple as that.
As I say, the biggest supporters of tough immigration laws are normally the legal immigrants who later obtained their US citizenship. It was a huge eye-opener for me when I had a conversation with a Mexican immigrant (who came to the country legally, not crossing the border) who later obtained their US citizenship. He was clear that if you are illegal, you must go back to your country. He didn’t have any mercy for his fellow countrymen who crossed the border illegally.
Norbert Lettl says
Deport criminal Trump and his criminal insurrectionists & enablers to Guantanamo Bay to clean out the real swamp .
Jake from state farm says
Well, Pierre, it seems like this is the hill that the left has decided to die on. The mass majority of Americans is against immigration. I would like you to point out some example where anyone is advocating for revoking the citizenship of immigrants like yourself and forcibly sending them back to their home countries. Because that’s not what this issue is about. If you’re being honest, this debate isn’t about immigration in general; it’s about the illegal entry into the country. That’s where the problem lies.
It’s not a complicated issue, Pierre. Yet, somehow, you and many others on the left seem determined to frame it as if the real concern is the immigrant population as a whole. That’s simply not the case. The issue is illegal immigration, and the approach being taken is deeply flawed. If you can’t see this in the polls—including those from outlets that traditionally lean left—then I’m afraid it’s going to be a long, long time before the left sees any significant political power again. You put forward a candidate who was nothing short of a disaster, and look at where we are today. I believe you even called the race down to the electoral vote, didn’t you? It’s hard to ignore the message that sent.
Now, don’t get me wrong, Pierre. People from all over the world are welcome to come to the United States. We are a nation built on immigration, and there’s no question about that. But there is a process—a legal process. People need to get in line and follow the rules. Whether you’re coming here on a green card, a work visa, or through some other legal channel, the expectation is simple: respect the law. You are coming here as a guest, not as a permanent resident by default. If you disagree with the rules, or if the process seems inconvenient, that’s your right. But you’re not entitled to bypass the system just because it suits your interests. If the rules are too difficult for you, then perhaps it’s time to reconsider whether this country is the right place for you to be. And if you can’t follow the law, maybe it’s better to return to where you came from.
I also understand, Pierre, that you likely rely on immigrant labor to maintain the grounds of your intercostal mansion in the hammock, whether it’s picking vegetables or cutting your lawn. But let’s be honest about the situation: employing people who are here illegally only perpetuates a system of exploitation. These individuals are taking jobs away from those who are here legally—people who respect our laws and are trying to make an honest living. By supporting this illegal labor force, you are perpetuating what can only be described as modern-day slavery. These workers, often paid far less than the legal wage, are vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, and you, Pierre, should be ashamed of turning a blind eye to it. We also hear the same from other liberals when they ask who is going to pick our vegetables and mow are lawns. The left seems the to be the party with the issue.
It’s easy to romanticize the idea of cheap labor and disregard the human cost, but the reality is far darker. You cannot claim to be a champion of fairness, justice, and equality while ignoring the very real harm that illegal immigration and exploitative labor practices inflict on both the workers and those who are lawfully here. This issue isn’t just about politics; it’s about human dignity and respect for the rule of law. If you truly believe in those ideals, you should start practicing what you preach.
This expanded version maintains the original points but gives them more depth, providing additional clarity on the core issue and emphasizing the importance of legal processes and the ethical ramifications of exploiting illegal labor. Let me know if you’d like any further changes!
Samuel L. Bronkowitz says
Flagler’s racists today: “get them brown immgrants out of here, this is trump’s america”
Flagler’s racists tomorrow: “why can’t I afford vegetables? looks like it’s dollar store catfood again :(“
Deborah Coffey says
@ Pierre
Thank you for your comment. So much of the ignorance and racism expressed in several comments above will never make America great. Do they even know how many of those immigrants that Trump sent to El Salvador are not criminals, had jobs, families, owned houses, and even had court dates to settle their status here? I’m beginning to wonder if ignorance is a choice. I guess someone once said that “Ignorance is bliss” but, these MAGAs aren’t blissful; they seem to be angry at the world.
JimboXYZ says
“I also believe that we should tax income for Social Security up to $400,000 dollars and Medicare the same…”
Social Security is taxed, and so is any income from a source other than Social Security. I don’t know of a single legitimate Social Security check that isn’t/hasn’t been taxed & subject to the same Standard or Itemized Deduction. It’s a deferred taxation model, always has been that model. As for Medicare ? That’s a benefit because along the way we all got gouged by the Unaffordable Healthcare System for the best years of our health, when insurance really is nothing more than dental or vision problems. I think Social Security & Medicare should be tax exempt. A lot of folks don’t make it very deep past 65 for Medicare and their Social Security age which is edging closer to 67 across the board for anyone born after 1961. We live in a society that lowballs labor, resets careers along the way. Just look at every recession that’s ever happened. The cut back in hours for a workweek for a lot of labor. There was a day when 39 weeks was what unemployment insurance was, is it like 12 weeks now. And there are periods where the displaced workers easily are mismanaged into poverty for months.
Where does illegal immigration enter the discussion ? 4 years of the last POTUS just paying out hundreds of millions every year for people that never paid into the system. And looking at the homeless camps nationwide, not a penny for those folks while illegals are put up in luxury hotel rooms. That’s unsustainable if it should have ever happened at all. Solvency of the system, inflation can’t be curbed as evidenced by the last 5 years. why tax anyone getting $ 600-2K a month to live off of that. Rent alone is going to be $ 1.5-2K. It’s simple math, Social Security & Medicare aren’t pacing the cost of living as it is.
With illegal immigration, Social Security & Medicare are USA exclusive programs that seem to be the solution for every nation tha6t doesn’t have those programs. And quite a few of those nations are taxed at a level that Americans wouldn’t tolerate from any leadership. Here’s the reality, as an American, we can move to any nation that will have us. We take our Social Security upon relocation. We won’t get a penny or whatever foreign currency they have from their system. We will pay USA taxes on that Social Security.
Cut out the Government wast, fraud & abuse. What USAID was spending internationally on anything is criminal.
Red, White, and blue says
What part of illegal do we not understand. Come in the front door not breaking in the back door.
Pierre Tristam says
The funniest part about Jake’s superb homage to gaslights (I too love Pissarro’s “Montmartre at Night“) is where he claims I “likely rely on immigrant labor to maintain the grounds of your intercostal (sic.) mansion in the hammock, whether it’s picking vegetables or cutting your lawn.” I should inform my wife. I wasn’t aware that a) we had abandoned our lovely P Section (Paris of Palm Coast) for the Hammock, that b) we have a mansion and c) we have vegetables to pick, let alone by migrants, though to be sure I’d be first in line to pay a migrant over an Anglo any day: better quality work, more reliable, more honest, less tendency to make shit up, like that entire gas-lit screed above. No wonder Jake spends half his days on this immigrant-produced site. But anyway. There’s work to do apparently now that I own a mansion and an entire vegetable farm.
Jake from state farm says
Pierre, I came across yet another one of the articles you shared, and I couldn’t help but notice something interesting. It seems that instead of relying on illegal immigrants to maintain your mansion, scrub your toilets and harvest your vegetables, you’ll now be turning to American citizens—though homeless—to pitch their tents on your grounds, serve your family, and care for your estate. I have to say, that’s a step in the right direction. Utilizing legal citizens, especially those who have fallen on hard times, shows at least some recognition of the struggles your fellow Americans are facing. Good for you. Unlike some of your fellow liberals who demand that we have illegals here to care for them.
But let’s not ignore the bigger picture. The real issue has never been with immigrants who come here legally and go through the proper channels—like you did. The problem lies with those who enter the country illegally, bypassing our laws and straining our systems. And yet, you refuse to make that distinction. That says a lot.
By continuing to blur the line between legal immigration and illegal border crossings, you and others on the left only reveal how desperate you are to confuse the conversation. It’s a deliberate tactic—lump everyone together, and hope people won’t notice the difference. But we do. And the more you avoid addressing the real issue, the more obvious your agenda becomes.
Also you comment about preferring a migrant over an anglo sounds a bit racist and not really DEI proper.
Sherry says
GESTAPO! This is the kind of incredibly cruel shit happening today in Florida “Gimme Your Papers”! :
4-18-2025 MIAMI (AP) — A U.S. citizen was arrested in Florida for allegedly being in the country illegally and held for pickup by immigration authorities even after his mother showed a judge her son’s birth certificate and the judge dismissed charges. The man was released after his case received widespread coverage.
Juan Carlos Lopez Gomez, 20, was in a car that was stopped just past the Georgia border by the Florida Highway Patrol on Wednesday, said Thomas Kennedy, a spokesperson at the Florida Immigrant Coalition. Gomez and others in the car were arrested under a new Florida law that’s on hold that makes it a crime for people who are in the country illegally to enter the state.
It is unclear if Lopez Gomez showed documents proving that he’s a citizen to the arresting officers. He was held at Leon County Jail.
The charge of illegal entry into Florida was dropped Thursday after his mother showed the judge his state identification card, birth certificate and Social Security card, said Kennedy, who attended the hearing. Court records show Judge Lashawn Riggans found no basis for the charge.