After avoiding detection for 17 years, Elda Chafoya had hoped that one day she would find some peace.
A decade ago, she followed the crops to Georgia, Ohio and North Carolina. Before the coronavirus pandemic, she settled in Florida to provide some stability for her family. She found steady work picking strawberries, cucumbers and sweet chilis. She rented a home in the Wimauma area that reminded her of growing up in Guatemala. Two other families moved in with her.
But when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation last month that’s considered among the nation’s toughest crackdowns on illegal immigration, Chafoya realized that the stability she had sought for so long might be lost for good.
That’s when she started thinking about leaving the state with her three daughters, all of whom were born in the U.S.
“It’s a survival mode,” she said.
The new law goes into effect July 1 and will target the workforce lacking proper legal documents in various industries. It expands the worker verification process and requires that businesses with 25 or more employees have to use E-Verify, an online system that checks a person’s citizenship. If someone is found working without proper documents, the state can penalize employers.
The legislation prohibits local governments from issuing ID cards to individuals without permanent legal status and invalidates driver’s licenses issued by other states for such immigrants. It will expose drivers to third-degree felony charges for knowingly transporting...
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