Human smugglers and those who employ illegal aliens will face increased penalties if a measure introduced by State Sen. Blaise Ingoglia (R-Spring Hill) becomes law.
Introduced on March 7, SB 1718 would levy enhanced fines and penalties of up to $10,000 per worker on Florida businesses that hire illegal immigrants. It also authorizes the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) to randomly audit businesses for their compliance with the law set out in the bill and prohibits unauthorized immigrants from being admitted to the Florida Bar.
Meanwhile, the state of Florida would not recognize any out-of-state licenses issued to illegal immigrants, and anyone who is caught smuggling illegal immigrants would face enhanced penalties.
Also, under the proposed legislation, local governments would be prohibited from financially supporting non-profits that create identification cards for illegal immigrants, and law enforcement would be authorized to take DNA samples from illegal immigrants who are booked into county detention centers for whom a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainer has been issued.
Finally, the proposed measure mandates that hospitals that receive Medicaid dollars from the state track how much money is spent on illegal immigrants when they use emergency rooms.
According to Ingoglia, the measure is designed to compensate for the federal government’s inaction to address issues related to the influx of illegal immigrants entering the country.
“SB 1718 is the most comprehensive and strongest, state-led anti-illegal immigrant piece of legislation ever put forth,” Ingoglia said. “This should be the model for all 50 states going forward to push the federal government into finally doing its job and fixing a crisis they have created.”
SB 1718 will be considered during the legislative session, which began on March 7.
Correction made 7 pm 3/7/23 changing Medicare to Medicaid.
