DeSantis Doubles Down After Racist Law Exposed

MIAMI – The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) issued the following statement by AJ Hernandez Anderson, a senior supervising attorney with the SPLC’s Immigrant Justice Project responding to Gov. DeSantis’ latest Executive Order aimed at targeting immigrant communities and children in the state: 
 
“While this is clearly political posturing for the Governor and his ambitions, this executive order will have a chilling effect and serious consequences for immigrant communities, children, and persons of color across the state by preventing them from accessing key resources and subjecting them to racial profiling. Worse still, it reflects a total disregard for the most vulnerable children by targeting unaccompanied minors. 
 
“In addition, this order clears the path for the Governor’s administration to collect data without sufficiently sharing the raw data with the public, and without any clear safeguards against manipulation and skewing of information privately collected, which could easily be used in their ongoing disinformation campaigns about immigrants. 
 
“This order is yet another attempt by DeSantis to require law enforcement to racially profile individuals, meddle in local affairs, evade separation of powers, and deter immigrants and persons of color from fully participating in our communities across Florida. 
 
“We join those from across Florida in expressing our collective outrage at this despicable order by contacting Attorney General Moody and Gov. Desantis’ offices. Like SB 168, this must be STOPPED.” 
 
Last week a federal court delivered a major blow to DeSantis and his racist allies by ruling that his anti-immigrant bill (“SB 168”) violated the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution in a decisive victory for communities who fought to defeat the law beginning in 2019.  
 
The case, City of South Miami, et al. v. DeSantis, et al., was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Miami Division. 
 
Those interested in making clear their opposition to this order and Gov. DeSantis’ ongoing war on immigrant communities can contact the Office of Attorney General Ashley Moody here: http://myfloridalegal.com/contact.nsf/contact?Open&Section=Attorney_General.