Florida Legislature Passes Bill Banning Undocumented Immigrants From Using Community IDs

The Florida legislature passed this week a bill banning undocumented immigrants from using community ID, Univision reported.

Concretely, the bill forbids county and city authorities from accepting this form of identification, which the outlet says is mostly used by undocumented immigrants and homeless people so they can have a form of identification when interacting with law enforcement, for bureaucratic purposes.

Local outlet WFSU reported that Republicans favored the bill, while Democrats spoke against it. Republican Representative Berny Jacques, from Seminole, said that the IDs attract undocumented migrants to the state, potentially increasing crime levels.

"To make sure we don't lose one more American because there was an incentive that drew them here in the first place, then that is a reason good enough for me to vote up on this bill," the outlet quoted him saying.

In contrast, Representative Johanna Lopez said that the bill sends a "message of exclusion and mistrust, creating an environment where our immigrants are segregated and Floridians are less safe." Should governor Ron DeSantis sign the bill into law, it would go into effect on July 1.

Immigration-related crime has been dominating the national conversation lately, especially following the killing of Laken Riley, a nursing student in Georgia, suspectedly at the hands of a Venezuelan who crossed the border unlawfully in 2022.

The Associated Press reported that Republicans in the state's House are seeking to advance a bill where all eligible police and sheriff's department would be tasked with identifying undocumented migrants and detaining them for deportation. It would also set new requirements for how jail officials should check with ICE to determine detained people's migratory status.

Initiatives of the kind are taking place elsewhere in the country. In Arizona, Republicans are pushing a bill that would allow people to legally kill others accused of trespassing or attempting to trespass on their property. This would include migrants who are oftentimes caught crossing into the U.S. through ranches that sit at the border with Mexico.

The bills also come as a recent survey by the Pew Research Center showed that 57% of respondents believed that increased immigration leads to more crime. This was especially the case with Republicans, as 85% of them agreed with the premise, compared to 31% of Democrats.

However, CNN reported that different researchers have found no connection between immigration and higher crime rates, with some even concluding that "immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than people born in the US."