A.G. Gancarski
The House isn’t saying “papers, please” to immigrants, but a newly passed bill puts restrictions on acceptable forms of identification for people not born in this country.
Largely along party lines, legislators passed by an 81-32 vote HB 1451, a Rep. Kiyan Michael and Berny Jacques measure that bans “counties & municipalities, respectively, from accepting certain ID cards or documents that are knowingly issued to individuals who are not lawfully present in United States as form of identification.”
Various South Florida jurisdictions have accepted such identification in recent years, though those initiatives stopped being funded last Summer.
Ahead of the vote, Democrats attempted to knock down the legislation in structured debate, to no avail as usual.
Rep. Anna Eskamani attested to the importance of “community IDs” elsewhere in the country, noting that people like Orange County Sheriff John Mina have spoken about the value of using these to connect undocumented immigrants with social services. She noted that these documents don’t allow people to vote or drive legally.
Rep. Johanna López decried the measure as posing “serious threats to public safety,” keeping undocumented immigrants “segregated.” She lamented that law enforcement did not help to develop this bill.
Rep. Angie Nixon noted that America itself is “stolen land” and the beneficiaries are “descendants of illegal immigrants.”
One Democrat and various Republicans stood up for the bill.
Rep. Kim Daniels — who, like Reps. Nixon and Michael, is from Jacksonville — noted that she’s been married for three years to a Nigerian who got his visa this week, and suggested her “position” is why it has taken longer.
“I’m going to vote up on this bill,” Daniels said. “Just because you vote up on this bill, doesn’t mean it’s hatred. Everybody ain’t hating. You don’t know what people are going through.”
Daniels suggested that opponents of the bill were trying to give “free rides” to undocumented immigrants, and said she’s “tired of being quiet.”
Rep. Jeff Holcomb said “anyone can get a community ID,” arguing that America is no longer a “sovereign country” because of the “open border,” and charging opponents of the bill with “playing politics” with community IDs to “increase population in certain parts of this country” to drive Democratic votes.
“They want a popular vote. You’re going to win a popular vote election when you allow new people to vote,” he said.
Rep. Jacques cited the “invasion” at the “open (Joe) Biden borders” and the need to “stop the scourge of illegal immigration,” noting that previous legislation and the Governor sending state forces to the Mexican border as emblematic of the state’s commitment.
“This bill was passed last year,” said Michael, who added that she was “just getting started” with legislation to crack down on illegal immigration. Her personal stake in this issue is well known; she had a son killed by an undocumented immigrant when George W. Bush was President.
The Senate version of this bill is on track to pass, as it’s on the Special Order Calendar.
It’s unlikely that Gov. Ron DeSantis will veto this, meanwhile, and it is likely he will sign this at a press conference in Jacksonville, where he has brought his anti-illegal immigration events many times in the past.
5 comments
Dont Say FLA
March 4, 2024 at 12:49 pm
Identification via papers and/or numbers is a very silly antiquated idea that puts everyone’s identities at risk, so I am glad to see government not expanding that outdated concept.
There’s no proof anymore that you’re really you other than your genetic markers being provided in person.
All document based IDs need to be sunsetted. It’s the only way Identity Theft will ever end.
Lenders don’t take the time up front to figure out who they’re loaning money to. They only care after the money isn’t repaid. Then, THEN, then they start trying to find YOU, the person whose documentary identification was presented to them by someone other than you but the lender didn’t care until it cost THEM some dineros.
Nope
March 5, 2024 at 5:53 pm
I get where you are coming from and usually agree with your points, but what you suggest is terrifying and hasn’t worked at all for the UK. It just means if someone does steal or misuse your identity you have no recourse, you are completely ruined, might as well be dead. Not to mention we are already reaching panopticon status with all centralized medical data that affects people’s insurance rates and access to insurance, life insurance, car insurance, home insurance, finance, credit. Next it will be jobs–don’t kid yourself. AI will start pulling that in, HIPAA aside. If you add genetic coding to that as has already affected people who have opted in, it’s game over. Please do some more research on this at the tech level. I will live in a teepee in the tundra before I submit to biometrics or genetic markers, even though I’m in perfect health.There are reasons there are issues with this and why there hasn’t been a mass implementation up til now. Do you really trust the government with this?? Anyway I don’t understand not wanting some basic level of documentation (which does not confer rights) for people just to make it easier on law enforcement and medical workers, who are now required to establish citizenship at the point of treatment. It would at least help provide more data as to the degree of medical care going to people without citizenship, which is necessary for government. There are too many people otherwise. The rest of the developed world does this and I don’t see people screaming over Europe, where again, it’s really necessary. I don’t know. It’s messy. People think it’s like a form of amnesty and a slippery slope and I get that, too.
Elly Florida
March 4, 2024 at 12:49 pm
Thank you for common sense legislation. Legal residents and citizens should get the id’s. Come in the legal way.
Christians Are A Cancer On Earth
March 4, 2024 at 2:55 pm
This IS Christianity; “screw the needy”
MH/Duuuval
March 4, 2024 at 3:00 pm
Now Duval voters know what Kiyan Michael has been up to in Tallahassee: hanging out with the Haitian-born emigrant Berny Jacques and trying to create additional hassles for asylum seekers, some of whom fear death if they go back to their homelands. Nice work, Kiyan and Berny!
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