Preston Scott: Republicans, did my daughter have to become another Laken Riley to matter?

Apart from the fiasco otherwise known as the Jim Greer years, I have been a proud member of the Republican Party for more than 45 years and consider myself a staunch conservative.

This makes the following question even more perplexing …

Why do I seem to have more in common with Democrat Sen. Jason Pizzo than with my own party when it comes to cracking down on employing illegal immigrants?

Is it against the law to employ illegal immigrants or not? The answer is simple – yes, it is. The reality, however, is not as clear-cut. I recently found out firsthand why.

My daughter and her three children live in a small coastal town on Florida’s Forgotten Coast. Sometime in late February, a construction worker, while employed on a crew building homes across from where she works, took notice of my daughter.

Unbeknownst to her, the gaze turned into overt stalking. Over the course of a week, he followed her often enough to learn where she lived. The stalking turned predatory when, in the early hours of March 1, the individual circled the house where my daughter and grandchildren were sleeping, cut a screen, and broke into her home.

At one point, my daughter awakened to feed her infant daughter. The individual was there, hidden. She did not notice the screen cut, and at that moment was unaware of the imminent danger posed to them.

She later discovered that not only did the man go into each bedroom, opening doors throughout the house, the obsessed individual managed to take two articles of my daughter’s clothing. Were they trophies for a later assault? Were they to prove to others, perhaps gang members, that he did it?

She realized what had happened when she woke up, seeing all the doors open in and out of the house, the cut screen at the window, and the video revealing an intruder inside the home. It was only then, hours later, that she was able to take account not only of what happened, but worse – what could have happened.

My daughter and grandchildren were very fortunate. I believe God placed them all in a bubble. All one needs to do to visualize what could have happened is read the endless accounts reported in news outlets.

Thanks to amazing neighbors and the skill of the local police department, the stalker was caught by the end of the day. He admitted his guilt. All of it. The stalking, the breaking and entering, the burglary.

Oh, one more thing … he is in this country and employed, illegally.

He has an ICE detainer. Hopefully, he will be deported after he is adjudicated and punished by the State of Florida. Justice demands punishment, then deportation.

But that is not the complete issue here, is it?

How was this worker employed in the state of Florida, a state that has championed its tough stance on combating illegal immigration for years? How is it possible he was among the countless others being paid (likely under the table) by employers who are not held accountable?

I can answer these questions in part. This was made possible because Florida’s elected Republicans in the State House and Senate have protected industries – particularly hospitality, agriculture, and, yes, construction trades – through a loophole big enough to drive an 18-wheeler through.

By exempting employers with less than 25 employees from the E-Verify process, Republican lawmakers made a glaring error. If you’re a company with 40 employees and want to get around that process, simply file paperwork creating another LLC, assign half your employees to each and voilà – you are exempt from the one system that would have possibly saved my daughter the trauma.

Because this worker was likely assisted by a co-worker who drove a 15-passenger van to where my daughter lives, we don’t think she is safe yet. She now lives a life of fear – she must consistently check her rearview mirror. A police officer must be dispatched when she gets off work. She is having to look for another job. She also lives knowing what happened, that a stalker was in her bedroom, while she and her children slept.

I understand that in a state as large and diverse as Florida, things will fall through the cracks. However, make no mistake — a sizable portion of the blame lays at the feet of Florida’s Legislature (i.e., Republicans), who apparently caved to special interests and refused to completely hold employers accountable. By allowing this carve-out, they gave bad actors an easy mechanism to sidestep the law and carry on like nothing had changed.

In the Special Session that addressed immigration policy last month, Democrat Sen. Pizzo proposed an amendment to the bills that would close the loophole. Somehow, and I am still trying to wrap my brain around how, it was ruled not germane to the bill. My fear is that it was ruled that way to avoid having to put members on record voting on it.

I recognize that my daughter and my grandchildren are safe. However, safe by no means indicates that they are OK. She is a victim, with all the consequences that come with it.

In this year’s regular session, there are several bills in both chambers addressing further immigration reforms, including at least three bills that close the E-Verify loophole. Two of those bills have been filed by Democrats – Sen. Pizzo and Rep. Allison Tant. To Sen. Pizzo and Rep. Tant, as well as Sen. Blaise Ingoglia – you have my thanks and gratitude. To those in leadership and Committee Chairs who have yet to place any of those bills on a Committee agenda – you have my ire and indignation.

To the Republican supermajorities in the Florida House and Senate, I will end by asking you to ponder a question:

Did my daughter have to become a Laken Riley or a Jocelyn Nungaray for her to matter, for Republican lawmakers to do the right thing?

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Preston Scott has been a talk-show host for WFLA-Tallahassee and Panama City, on iHeartRadio for 23 years.