The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) known as the Dream Act survived years of attack from the Trump administration. It temporarily protects undocumented people, most of whom immigrated to the U.S. as young children, from deportation. families deserved this moment of relief.
undocumented immigrants
What “Abolish ICE” Really Means
All evidence suggests that immigrants are far from the national security threat the Trump administration claims they are. Regardless of status, they’re more law-abiding than native-born citizens.
Both Republicans, One Florida Senator Wants to Protect Undocumented Migrants, Another Wants to Punish Them
Senate Judiciary Chairman David Simmons would give undocumented immigrants legal permits to work and drive in Florida while Sen. Joe Gruters would harshen up penalties for the undocumented.
Citing Police Role and Trust, South Miami Will Challenge New Law Banning Sanctuary Cities
“As soon as [police] are seen as somebody who might turn you in if you called for assistance, they’re no longer trusted and they can no longer do their primary job,” the South Miami mayor says.
Our Immigrant Prisons Are An Atrocity
As reports surface about immigrant children sleeping on concrete floors and people being forced to drink water from toilets, one fact has become unmistakably clear: It’s well past time to demand an end to Trump’s cruel and inhumane treatment of immigrants.
What National Emergency?
American leader not only genuflecting to autocrats from Turkey to Russia to Saudi Arabia, but behaving like them is a more serious national emergency than what few migrants are still crossing the border illegally.
DeSantis Pushes Hard Line Against Sanctuary Cities, Calling For Collaboration With ICE
DeSantis is urging Florida sheriffs to participate in a federal immigration enforcement program in which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, deputizes local law officials.
Take It From Me: Addiction Doesn’t Start At the Border
As the sister of a brother lost to an opioid overdose, Trump’s claim that we need a border wall in order to keep drugs out is offensive to me on multiple levels. We should treat the root causes of addiction instead.
Florida Takes Center Stage In Controversy Over Citizenship Question On Census Form
Including the citizenship question could hurt Florida and other states with large immigrant populations in the decennial reapportionment process, a federal judge wrote.
Trump Said He Would Protect Families, Then Deported My Husband
A year ago, my husband Jorge was torn from our family and deported to Mexico after living peacefully in the United States for nearly 30 years, working and raising a family with me in suburban Detroit, the author writes.
Senate Panel Weigh Watered Down ‘Sanctuary Cities’ Ban, Eliminating Sanctions on Local Governments
The anti-sanctuary cities bill may be now more appealing to the Florida Senate, which is viewed as the more moderate chamber and has blocked similar proposals in the past.
Trump’s Fabulous Wall Fables
We’re in a post-factual presidency where alternative facts are the equivalent of papal bulls. It’s about belief, not reality. For the sake of appearances though, let’s argue the facts about the wall for a moment.
The Migrant Caravan’s Lessons from South of the Border
In Tijuana, some Mexicans have embraced the Trump line on Central American migrants. But others have welcomed them with open arms.
Local Police Should Not Collaborate With Immigration and Customs Enforcement
As reports of abuse at ICE emerge and increase, robust sanctuary policies that end the collusion with local law enforcement that ICE relies on gain urgency.
Abolish ICE
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is supposed to keep Americans safe. Instead, it’s terrorizing refugees, families, and small children.
Zero Tolerance: Here’s What It’s Like to Work at a Shelter for Immigrant Kids
A window into a system pushed into overdrive, straining to serve traumatized kids amid the uncertainty of America’s immigration system.
Being Separated From My Child Nearly Destroyed Me
The administration’s policy of separating families is torture, and Trump’s executive order to incarcerate families together doesn’t solve the crisis.
Cruel and Usual Trump
The Trump-Sessions zero-tolerance policy of separating children from their parents at the border has no precedent except in America’s slavery times.
The Truth About ‘Sanctuary Cities’
The term “sanctuary city” typically refers to a jurisdiction that wants to limit the use of local law enforcement resources to carry out federal law enforcement work, in violation of constitutional protections.
Trump’s Census Whitewash
The Trump administration’s decision to include a question on the census about citizenship is intended to under-count immigrants and skew numbers to favor whiter voting districts.
Facing Deportation, an Undocumented Immigrant Held at Flagler Jail Changes His Plea at Last Minute
The case of Palm Coast resident Filipino Francisco Justo underscores how the potential for deportation increases rather than decreases burdens on the judicial and penal systems.
What Trump Wants on Immigration Is Ethnic Cleansing
Trump’s offering a fig leaf of legal status for a relatively small slice of the undocumented population in return for a drastic cut of all immigration to the U.S.
Bill Targeting Florida “Sanctuary Cities,” An Election-Year Wedge, Stalls In Senate
Sen. Aaron Bean, R-Fernandina Beach, tabled his proposed sanctuary-city ban after facing bipartisan opposition to the measure aimed at requiring local governments to comply with federal immigration laws.
To Keep America Great, Legalize All Undocumented Immigrants
We have a choice: Keep our economy vibrant and enviable or demolish it by expelling and demonizing undocumented immigrants, as short-sighted nations have done in the false name of “purity” over the years.
Trump’s Decision To End Dreamers’ Amnesty Creates Dilemma For Florida GOP
Florida is home to at least 30,000 people who could be affected and is the base for exponentially more Hispanic voters who could be critical to next year’s elections.
The Brutality Behind Trump’s Arpaio Pardon
The president called Joe Arpaio, a man who chronically violated people’s constitutional rights, a “patriot.” What does that make his victims?
Florida Lawmakers to Review Law Targeting Injured Undocumented Workers
A top Florida lawmaker and a national insurance fraud group criticized a law used by insurers to turn in injured undocumented workers and avoid paying workers’ comp benefits.
He Was About To Pick Up His Newborn Son After Surgery When He Was Arrested By ICE
The case of Oscar Millan shows ICE’s renewed focus on strict immigration enforcement. Under the Obama administration, agents had discretion in cases of immigrants with gravely sick children.
Sanctuary Cities Brace For Trump Order Targeting Undocumented Immigrants for Deportation
Many cities, counties and college campuses nationwide are pledging to limit cooperation with immigration enforcers in the face of President Trump’s pledge to quickly deport 2 to 3 million undocumented immigrants.
The Unnecessary Controversy Over “Sanctuary Campuses”
Even if colleges were targeted by the Trump administration, numerous privacy and legal obstacles remain before administrators would be enlisted in identifying students for deportation.
New Florida Senator Files Bill To Scrap 2014 Law Granting In-State Tuition to Undocumented Immigrants
The plan by Sen. Greg Steube, a Sarasota Republican, repealing the in-state tuition exception, could alter the higher-education plans of many students who have spent much of their lives in Florida.
The Republican Responsibility to Reject Trump
Derision, racism, default and brutality are strange ways to go about making America great again. Let’s hope for the GOP’s sake and everyone else’s that Republicans have the clarity not to fall for Trump’s latest reality show.
No, Pat Mooney, Immigrants Aren’t Cattle
Republican candidate Pat Mooney, running for the congressional seat that includes Flagler, managed to compare all Syrians to terrorists, all tourists and immigrants to cattle, and called for foreigners to be “chipped” and tracked the moment they enter the country.
Driver’s Licenses for Undocumented Immigrants: Flagler Sheriff Says Yes, But Local Opinion Is Divided
A dozen states have legalized issuing driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants, primarily as a safety measure, but Flagler officials reflect state opinion that has prevented such legalization from taking place in the Sunshine State.
Florida House Wants to Prohibit Immigrants’ “Sanctuary” Communities
Despite emotional pleas from immigrant advocates, state House members Wednesday moved forward with measures aimed at cracking down on cities and counties that provide “sanctuary” for undocumented immigrants and increasing penalties for people who defy deportation orders.
Judges Continue to Deny Dependency Pleas From Undocumented Teens in Florida
A determination of dependency, based on issues such as abandonment by parents or abuse, would help the teens apply for a special immigration status and seek permanent residency.
No Sanctuaries: Undocumented Immigrants’ Fears Persist Even as Deportations Are Down
Immigrants’ fear can prevent them from cooperating with police, derail attempts to ensure that all drivers are licensed and endanger growth in areas looking to immigrants to help reverse population losses.
In Donald Trump, Democrats Have a “Very Useful Idiot”
Republicans have an image problem. And it gets worse when somebody like Trump exacerbates the problem when he called Mexicans rapists.
Quit Turning Your Backs on Desperate Migrants. Help Them Instead.
Like Americans’ ancestors, migrants are fleeing poverty, war, or oppression, or are searching for a better life in a new land. Blocking that flow, argues Kofi Anann, is bound to fail, with disastrous consequences for human lives.
This Latina Liberal Is Not Kidding: Ronald Reagan’s Big Gift to Immigrant Families
As a progressive young Latina from a working-class background, whose parents immigrated to the United States from Mexico without papers, Cecilia Velasco is actually thankful for something Ronald Reagan did.
24-Hour Waiting Period for Abortions and Repeal of Undocumented Immigrant Attorney Law Filed
In a sign that hard-core Republican legislators intend to press their case at the Florida Legislature, lawmakers this week filed bills that would impose a 24-hour waiting period for abortions, and that would repeal the law adopted last year that enabled Jose Godinez-Samperio, an undocumented immigrant, to become a practicing lawyer.
Jose Manuel Godinez-Samperio, “Undocumented” Immigrant, Earns Florida Bar Recommendation To Be an Attorney
The action benefiting Jose Manuel Godinez-Samperio, of Largo, came less than two months after Gov. Rick Scott signed into law a bill (HB 755) that allows “Dreamers,” undocumented immigrants brought to the country as children, to be eligible for The Bar.
In Clearest Pro-Immigrant Shift Yet, Gov. Scott Demands a Senate Vote on In-State Tuition for Undocumented
The governor, who originally came to office threatening to crack down on undocumented immigrants, said Tuesday that his opinion on the issue was shaped by stories he’s heard from students who grew up in Florida and would benefit from being able to pay the cheaper, in-state tuition rates.
Dream Act’s Florida Push Dies as Senate Panel Kills Proposal to Give In-State Tuition to Undocumented Immigrants
Supporters of the bill seemed taken aback by the news, which came less than a week after Sen. Jack Latvala, the Clearwater Republican who sponsored the bill, announced that half the Senate had agreed to join him in sponsoring the measure. Latvala and Negron are locked in a battle over the Senate presidency for the session beginning after the 2016 elections.
Rick Scott’s Dilemma: Helping Undocumented-Immigrant Students Or Sticking to His Base
While Scott has repeatedly said he supports a proposal to end annual 15 percent tuition hikes, he’s remained mum about the portion of the bill that would grant in-state tuition to undocumented students, or Dreamers.
In-State Tuition For Undocumented Immigrants Passes House, 81-33, as GOP Opposition Thins
The measure allows undocumented immigrants to pay cheaper, in-state tuition rates if they attend Florida middle and high schools for at least four straight years before going to college.
Florida Lawmakers Edging Toward Offering In-State Tuition for Some Undocumented Immigrants
A measure allowing some undocumented students to receive in-state tuition was easily approved Wednesday by a House subcommittee, but the bill still faces a steep climb in the Senate.
Immigration Reform’s Latest Cheering Section: Florida College and University Presidents
Florida college and university presidents are calling on Congress to pass immigration reform this year, saying it would be better for the state’s economy if foreign students could stay after graduation, instead of being forced to take their diplomas and leave.
Racist Attacks on Mexican-American’s National Anthem Performance Reflect GOP Blinders
It’s sad that Sebatien de la Cruz’s singing of the National Anthem at an NBA playoff game should become the target of ugly, anti-immigrant sentiment. These views didn’t arise in a vacuum, argues Raul Reyes. Republican lawmakers have been demonizing immigrants to the detriment of our civil discourse and to their own party. Meanwhile, our nation continues to grow more diverse, putting the GOP out of step with a changing America.
Hillary Clinton Would Easily Beat Rubio and Bush in Florida as Even Hispanics Rally Behind Her
In the latest Quinnipiac poll, Jeb Bush would beat Joe Biden in Florida, by a close margin. Marco Rubio would beat Biden by an even closer margin. But Hillary Clinton would beat both Rubio or Bush quite easily: 50 to 43 percent against Bush, 53 to 41 percent against Rubio, whose Hispanic heritage would not help him overcome the deficit.