TALLAHASSEE – Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson anticipates farmers, along the construction and tourism industries, will face “challenges” due to recently signed legislation that targets illegal immigration. But in defending the need to secure the nation’s Southern border with Mexico, Simpson added he’s yet to hear of any issues surfacing since Gov. Ron DeSantis last week signed a bill that steps up requirements on businesses to check the immigration status of workers.
The law, which doesn’t go into effect until July 1, also cracks down on people who bring undocumented immigrants into Florida and requires data from hospitals on whether patients are in the country legally.
“I think that we get it as farmers and as Americans and Floridians that you cannot keep having an influx of illegal folks coming across that border, realizing the tragedies that are happening on both sides of that border when they get here,” Simpson, an egg farmer, told The News Service of Florida after addressing the Capital Tiger Bay Club in Tallahassee on Thursday.
