The High Cost of Sending Immigration Messages

Fear of immigration animates a portion of the electorate, so some politicians have gone out of their way to send the message that they can be tough on immigration. Those messages can be destructive to a state or the country as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is now discovering. He presided over a number of get-tough measures in Florida to bolster his run for the Republican nomination—a run that ended on January 21. His measures are having some predictable, negative consequences.

Section 10 of a Florida anti-immigration bill passed during the last legislative session makes it a felony for anybody, even US citizens, to knowingly transport an undocumented person. That means undocumented traveling together to a work site would risk arrest, as would anyone including documented family members who helped them get anywhere. Judge Roy Altman struck it down in May, contending that exceeded the state’s authority, but he also invited briefs on the matter the same day as he wondered if his own ruling was too broad. He is due to make a final decision on his decision any day now, but damage has been done.

To start with, the Mexican government was offended. DeSantis may have passed the law to send a message to immigrants in Florida and voters nationally, they’re not the only ones who got it. The Mexican government did too, and one problem with states getting involved in immigration this way is the way they complicate the United States’ relationship with its neighbors. Traditionally, Mexico and Canada and other countries involved in immigration deal directly with the federal government, but the actions of DeSantis, Governor Greg Abbott in Texas, and others trying to freelance their own states-based immigration policy run the risk of straining those relationships. On July 1, 2023, the Government of Mexico expressed its extreme displeasure in a press release, saying:

While the Government of Mexico respects the processes and measures taken by state legislatures in the United States, it believes that SB1718 will affect the human rights of thousands of Mexicans, including children, and will exacerbate hostile environments, which may lead to hate crimes and acts against the migrant community. The measure does not reflect the migrants’ valuable contribution to the economy, society and culture of Florida and the country.

Criminalization is not the way to solve the issue of undocumented immigration. The existence of transnational labor markets, and the intense ties of trade and tourism between Mexico and Florida, cannot be overlooked by measures inspired by xenophobic and white nationalist sentiments.

The Mexican government worried that the law would lead to racial profiling, and anecdotally, that has been the case as brown-skinned drivers have been pulled over for suspicion of being undocumented.

DeSantis sent the message that he planned to get tough on immigration, and many Floridians are now concerned because they got the message. An NPR story from this spring talked about an ice cream parlor in Fort Myers whose business was down 30 percent between undocumented customers that had left and those who simply chose to stay out of sight. An estimated 40 percent of farmworkers are undocumented, so farmers are struggling with the reduced work force. The Florida Policy Institute estimates that the law could cost Florida $12.5 billion in its first year.

Undocumented workers often work construction jobs, but those projects are facing shortages as well. A roofing company in Florida told CBS News, “Historically, we've had plenty of crews. In the last year our crew count has been cut in half.”

So DeSantis showed that he could get tough on immigration, but outside of the base voters who are mobilized by these gestures, it’s hard to see who was made happy. Not the roofer in Jacksonville, Tim Conlan.

“I am not a fan of open borders,” he told CBS News. “But I am a fan of putting people to work in this community who are contributing to the community. There's got to be a way to get them into this system where they get paid a fair wage, and they pay their fair taxes, and everybody gets back to work.”

… and as a note to Mr. Conlan, they do pay their taxes, as we documented around tax time 2023.