New Signs On Highways A Reminder Of Governor's Immigration Stance

FLORIDA — In response to the Biden administration relaxing immigration restrictions, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has posted signs on three major interstates alerting travelers that Florida has implemented the E-Verify background check for potential employees.

Signs were posted on interstates 10, 95 and 75 as a warning to those looking for jobs in Florida that employers can check to see if job seekers are legally authorized to work in the United States.

DeSantis signed the E-Verify measure (Senate Bill 664) into law in July authorizing the use of a U.S. Department of Homeland Security database to verify an employee's immigration status. Florida's legislators, however, stopped short of making the E-Verify background checks mandatory for private businesses. Instead, private businesses are required to submit a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Employment Eligibility Verification form.

“Assuring a legal workforce through E-Verify will be good for the rule of law, protect taxpayers, and place an upward pressure on the wages of Floridians who work in blue-collar jobs," DeSantis said.

Critics say the verification system is flawed and could prevent qualified workers from getting jobs.

DeSantis had the highway signs posted this month after the Biden administration put a 100-day freeze on ICE arrests and deportation of immigrants while the president develops a new immigration policy.

Following the president's executive order, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration while DeSantis called on the federal government to ensure that criminal aliens are transferred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities as soon as they complete their prison terms.

“Florida will not sit by and watch idly as the federal government sets criminal aliens free and abdicates its legal obligation to enforce immigration law,” the governor said. “That’s why I’m calling on President Biden and ICE to take immediate action to detain and remove these dangerous criminal aliens. Too many lives have been lost because immigration officials failed to do their jobs and too many parents have lost children at the hands of criminal aliens who were irresponsibly set free.”

Over the next six months, the Florida Department of Corrections estimates that 200 suspected criminal aliens will complete their state prison terms.

Joining the DeSantis at a news conference in Titusville were Kiyan and Bobby Michael whose son, Brandon, died in 2007 when he was struck by an illegal immigrant who had twice been deported and was driving without a license or registration. Also on hand was Jamiel Shaw whose 17-year-old son, Jamiel Shaw II, was killed by a criminal illegal alien and known gang member. Shaw's killer had been released from jail just two days before the shooting.

“The Biden administration’s actions will allow criminal aliens to be released into and move freely in the state of Florida, and their resulting crime will cost the state millions of dollars on law enforcement, incarceration and crime victim’s assistance,” said Moody in her 28-page lawsuit filed March 8 in Tampa. “It will also cause unquantifiable harm to Florida’s citizenry and will force the state to expend its own law enforcement resources to pick up the slack.”