st. Petersburg, Fla. (WFLA) – There is a battle over immigrant rights taking place in the Tampa Bay Area. Advocates said there has been a change in immigration policies affecting communities. Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state remains a leader in immigration enforcement.
The deputy director of the Florida Immigration Coalition said people who were once in the country were legally targeted.
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“The 76,000 Honjurans who lost their positions yesterday and another 4,000 Nicaraguans who lost their positions yesterday,” said Renata Bosette, deputy director of the Florida Immigration Union.
On Friday, DeSantis once again secured the way the nation pushed the law to support President Donald Trump’s vision of oppression of illegal immigrants.
“We’ve done what we’ve been doing all along, making sure Florida is the leader in immigration enforcement,” DeSantis said.
On Tuesday night, supporters said all enforcement had taken away the legitimate process.
“Florida is ashamed of the country,” Bosette said.
Some of them said there were not enough lawyers to represent the immigrants in these cases.
“Looking at the statistics, if you don’t have an attorney, you won’t get relief in immigration court,” said Amy Godshal, staff attorney for the ACLU of the Florida Immigration Rights Campaign. “However, many organizations have recently lost a lot of funds from the states because they have opposed the state and federal governments.”
According to Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse in Hillsboro County, there have been more than 35,000 cases pending immigration, of which more than 8,000 have legal representation.
“Can you afford to buy an immigration lawyer when you can’t even work? Even people with legal work permits are in custody because it’s obviously not enough, so it’s obviously not enough,” Godshall said.
DeSantis said the state is accountable to those who are illegal here. Immigration advocates have encouraged people to donate to organizations that fight immigration court cases.
