Forgoing The Need For Sublety, Florida Makes A 'We Don't Like Your Kind' Law For DACA Attorneys

(Photo by Ronda Churchill/Getty Images)

You've got to give it to Liz Dye, it is hard to refer to SB 1718 as anything other than "an anti-immigrant bill chock full of new and creative modes of state-sponsored cruelty and ways for Governor DeSantis to burnish his Republican bona fides for a presidential run." For the folks who were preoccupied with yesterday's billables and didn't have the chance to catch up on Florida's shenanigans, here is a brief summary of what's going on.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is poised to sign tough penalties and restrictions that aims to obstruct the flow of illegal immigration to the state after the House approved the measure, (CS/SB 1718), in a mostly party line, 83-36 vote on Tuesday.

The new legislation strengthens employment requirements, bans local governments from contributing money to organizations creating identification cards for undocumented immigrants, bars driver's licenses issued to non-citizens in other states from use in Florida[.]

The old standby is that they are taking the jobs no one wants -- which is the bad take. It paints immigrants as being the scrap workers... which is why Kelly Osborne rightly faced criticism for her "who will clean toilets?" question. The part that gets much less air time is how these laws also prevent immigrants from taking the jobs we aren't qualified for. For example, SB 1718 even has a special little section that targets attorneys.

The new law repeals a 2014 law that allowed undocumented immigrants to be admitted to practice law in Florida.

DeSantis pushed for a tuition prohibition but couldn't find the support to make it into the final legislation. Senate President Kathleen Passidomo, R-Naples, said that several lawmakers served in 2014 when the Florida Legislature under then-Gov. Rick Scott extended in-state tuition to undocumented "Dreamers."

President Barack Obama signed the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, intended to protect undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children from removal proceedings and gain work authorization.

This spite regulation is stupid. A decent amount of Florida's lawyers don't like their jobs, the state just had a wave of state attorney and public defender resignations last year, and it doesn't really look like there are strong K-JD pipelines in play -- they have the nation's lowest learning rate. You'd think that they'd go the all hands on deck route rather than "Latinos Need Not Apply" at a time like this.

It's attempting to ban attorneys who have DACA, people WITH Employment Authorization, from practicing law in Florida. Let that sink in. Creating a potential precedent for those with work authorization.

-- Chris (@christycvn) May 3, 2023

There has to be some better way to get good optics for a presidential run, DeSantis. This ain't it.

Florida House Passes Sweeping New Immigration Bill. Here's What's In SB 1718 [PNJ]

Earlier: FL Lege Allocates $12 Million For DeSantis To Kidnap More Migrants

Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord(TM) in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s. He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at cwilliams@abovethelaw.com and by tweet at @WritesForRent.