She often has to remind immigrants going through the process that they are legally allowed to be in the country while attending appointments and working toward their legal residency, Marantes said. Immigrants who are in the process of becoming legal residents are worried the new law might impact their ability to get legal status, she said. Marantes said she hears daily from immigrants with questions about the immigration process but has seen an increase in calls after DeSantis signed the legislation, with most saying they are fearful of what’s going to happen. Nearly 200,000 initial cases were just filed in the first quarter of the year and another more than100,000 cases were completed this year so far, according to the data. immigration court already had over 1.8 million pending cases since the end of the fiscal year, according to data from the Executive Office for Immigration Review. border, Florida’s new immigration bill adds confusion. With a backlog of immigration cases in the state since COVID-19 delayed many appointments and the recent ending of Title 42, the COVID-era federal immigration policy that allowed authorities to swiftly turn away migrants at the U.S. creates penalties for those employing or smuggling undocumented immigrants and prohibits local governments from issuing identification cards to them invalidates ID cards issued to undocumented immigrants in other states and requires hospitals to collect and submit data on the costs of providing health care to undocumented immigrants.Īdvocates say the law will foster discrimination against Hispanics, including those who are legally in Florida like Puerto Ricans, the large majority of whom live in Osceola County. The law requires companies in the state with 25 or more employees use E-Verify, a federal system that determines the eligibility of employees to work in the U.S. In May, DeSantis signed Senate Bill 1718 into law. “This is for those that have an irregular status because, what happens, there is no clear definition under the law … if it will target the undocumented person who’s been here for a million years or someone still in the process.”Īdvocates believe immigrants and Puerto Ricans in Osceola County and Central Florida are at risk after DeSantis’ new immigration law takes effect on July 1. “Use buses, public transportation or a family member who is already a legal resident to drive you to appointments,” Marantes said in Spanish to immigrants at the Hello Project meeting. Melissa Marantes is the co-founder and director of the Orlando Center for Justice, a nonprofit that provides legal services to underrepresented groups who cannot afford a lawyer. The crowd of immigrants attending from all over Central Florida via Zoom on Thursday stayed silent as they were told that, due to federal laws, they could not be deported if they were going through the legalization process correctly but confirmed their fear that, because of the new state law, they could be detained. Now, the presentation includes a section explaining DeSantis’ new immigration bill. In an attempt to combat some of their fears, the Orlando Center for Justice created the Hello Project in February, which meets monthly on the first Thursday at the Buenaventura Lakes Library in Osceola County and at other locations in Orlando. A presentation by the Hello Project, shown here in Spanish at the Thursday, June, 1, 2023 meeting at the Buenaventura Lakes Library, helps people navigate the immigration process.
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