Promoting the Latino vote in local elections would help avoid laws like SB1718

Make the Hispanic community of USA. get involved and participate in local elections and not only in the presidential ones is essential to avoid laws like SB1718 of Floridasays Soraya Márquez, state director of the organization Mi Familia Vota.

In an interview with EFE in Miami on the occasion of the entry into force last weekend of the new law “anti-immigrant” from Florida, the activist of Venezuelan origin stressed the need to mobilize the vote of Latinos in Florida in the face of the 2024 presidential elections and the 2026 intermediate elections.

“The different sectors -he says- are understanding that this is not the policy we need in Florida and it is now when we can start a movement.”

Márquez is highly critical of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the state legislators who supported “irresponsibly” the SB1718 law without thinking about the consequences -also of an economic nature, since it causes labor shortages in the most important sectors- and believes that it may have a “boomerang effect” for them.

“This law does not only affect the immigrant, it will affect us all, because our governor is using Florida as a political platform to send a message to the extreme right, that they need to have on their side to win the primary elections”underline.

DeSantis, re-elected governor in 2022 with more than one 59% of the votes, aspires to be the candidate of the Republican Party in the 2024 presidential elections with an ultra-conservative electoral program in which the fight against “invasion” by the border of Mexico and irregular immigration is a central point.

Márquez points out that the SB1718 law is “only the beginning” of a sequel to similar laws and asks the rest of the US to be on guard against “an irresponsible person who does not measure the impacts, but rather the benefit that he can get to create the political base.”

Among other measures, Florida law establishes that a person who transfers an undocumented person to Florida from another state is committing a second degree felony and considers the fact that the transported person is a minor, even if they are a relative, to be an aggravating circumstance.

It also requires companies with more than 25 employees to verify the immigration status of their workers and hospitals that accept public health insurance (Medicaid) to ask patients whether or not they reside legally in the US.

Governor DeSantis’ plans if he reaches the White House are even tougher and include withdrawing the right to automatic citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants who are born in this country, a controversial measure that former President Donald Trump had previously announced. , who is the clear favorite in the vote intention polls in the Republican primaries.

In Florida, a state “Latin” (he 26.7% of the population identified as such in 2020) and with a significant number of undocumented immigrants, which Márquez believes may exceed one million people, the rejection of the SB1718 law has manifested itself in the streets.

Márquez points out, however, that voting has more direct and profound effects than protests and that in this “important moment” In Florida, it is necessary to influence participation and not only in presidential or state elections, but also in local ones.

“The problem we have with the Latino community is that they have not realized that the direct impact on their quality of life is not the presidential level or the Senate level, it is the mayor of the city, the mayor of the county, the board school or sheriff’s offices”says.

In his opinion, Latinos are partly to blame for what Florida “is facing now”for not having participated sufficiently in all electoral calls.

However, this is motivated by the fact that “There is no political structure, there is no structure that prepares candidates that really inspire the person who has already complied with their electoral registration to vote.”

Mi Familia Vota’s ultimate goal is to forge a “Latino political power”as proclaimed on its website.

Source: EFE