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americans for immigrant justice
Rights Groups Sue Over Anti-Immigrant Florida Law 'Designed to Inflict Cruelty'
One critic called S.B. 1718 "an attempt to scapegoat and terrorize vulnerable families and workers already burdened by the difficulty of the federal immigration process and to pick a fight with the federal government."
Jul 17, 2023
Legal groups representing the Farmworker Association of Florida and impacted individuals on Monday filed a federal lawsuit in Miami challenging Senate Bill 1781, one of several far-right state laws pushed through this year by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis as he geared up for the GOP's 2024 presidential primary.
Signed by DeSantis in May, the measure "is unconstitutional, xenophobic, and will increase the unlawful racial profiling of Florida's Black and Brown communities," said Paul R. Chavez, senior supervising attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center's Immigrant Justice Project—which filed the suit with the state and national ACLU as well as the American Immigration Council and Americans for Immigrant Justice.
"Admittedly designed to inflict cruelty, S.B. 1718 is unconstitutional and undermines our democracy," Chavez continued. "This lawsuit will vindicate all of our constitutional rights, and we remain committed to ensuring that immigrants are treated fairly, equally, and with dignity. Such an ugly attack on our immigrant community will not stand."
The new Florida law aims to crack down on the employment of undocumented immigrants and requires hospitals that accept Medicaid to ask on forms whether a patient is in the United States lawfully. It also expands the Florida Department of Law Enforcement's mission to include immigration matters, deems out-of-state driver's licenses issued to "unauthorized immigrants" invalid, and makes it a felony to transport into the state anyone who illegally entered the country.
As the American Immigration Council outlined in a series of tweets, this case focuses on the transportation portion of the law—though the group also emphasized that "Section 10 is just one part of S.B. 1718 that harms immigrant families."
"I'm suing because this law harms our family and many others. We aren't doing anything to hurt anyone. On the contrary, we're here working, paying taxes, and trying to provide a safe life for our families," said one of the individual plaintiffs, identified as MM. "Now we're scared to even travel together as a family. I would never want my son to face a felony for traveling with his mother and his sister. It makes no sense. We're family—how can this be?"
Nezahualcoyotl Xiuhtecutli, general coordinator at the 12,000-member Farmworker Association of Florida, stressed that "not only is this law detrimental to our members' abilities to put food on their own tables, it is detrimental to our members' ability to put food on everyone's tables."
"Florida's S.B. 1718 is a self-inflicted wound—the product of short-sighted lawmakers unable to see beyond the most immediate political opportunity," Xiuhtecutli added. "Though the impact of similar anti-immigrant laws in Arizona, Alabama, and Georgia clearly foreshadowed its legal and economic fallout, S.B. 1718 was passed with little regard for the hardships those states have experienced."
Businesses and hospitals are currently sorting out how to comply with the law. Even before taking effect on July 1, S.B. 1718 was causing a worker exodus from the state, as Common Dreams reported last month. On the healthcare front, some attorneys and advocates are urging all patients to refuse to answer any questions about citizenship on paperwork.
"As news of the predictable damage inflicted on Florida by S.B. 1718 comes in, we are filing this lawsuit to stop its unconstitutional criminalization of the immigrant community in a state where one-fifth of the population was born abroad," Amien Kacou, staff attorney for the ACLU of Florida, said Monday.
"This legislation is not the solution to any problem," Kacou asserted. "It is an attempt to scapegoat and terrorize vulnerable families and workers already burdened by the difficulty of the federal immigration process and to pick a fight with the federal government in order to serve the ambitions of a few politicians."
Evelyn Wiese, litigation attorney with Americans for Immigrant Justice, declared that "there's no denying the viciousness and inhumanity of this xenophobic new law. But Gov. DeSantis and his anti-immigrant allies in the Florida Legislature should make no mistake: When they attempt to flout the Constitution, we will fight back."
Campaign Demands Justice for 8-Year-Old Girl Who Died in US Border Patrol Custody
"It is atrocious that yet another family has to mourn their child because of our collective inability to fix our broken immigration system," lamented one activist in response to the death of Anadith Tanay Reyes Álvarez.
May 22, 2023
A coalition of migrant advocacy groups on Monday mourned and demanded justice for an 8-year-old Central American girl who died in U.S. Customs and Border Protection custody earlier this month.
The #WelcomeWithDignity campaign for asylum rights remembered Anadith Tanay Reyes Álvarez, an 8-year-old girl who came to the United States with her Honduran parents, following her death on May 17 after CBP agents "neglected to heed her parent's requests for medical assistance," according to the coalition.
"Anadith deserves to be alive today," said #WelcomeWithDignity interim campaign manager Bilal Askaryar. "Border Patrol staff ignored the minimum safeguards for protecting the lives in their custody."
"Anadith's parents should be preoccupied with helping their 8-year-old daughter prepare for her new life in the United States and making the journey to meet her aunt in New York," Askaryar added. "Instead, they are grieving an unspeakable tragedy and trying to raise money to take Anadith's body to their new home with them."
\u201cNew details regarding the preventable death of an 8-year-old girl in CBP custody last week show that the child\u2019s mother repeatedly asked agents to take her daughter to the hospital, but her pleas were ignored. Anadith had a history of heart problems and sickle cell anemia.\ud83e\uddf5\ud83d\udc47\ud83c\udffe\u201d— The Young Center (@The Young Center) 1684623052
Reyes, who suffered a congenital heart condition and sickle cell anemia, was a Panamanian citizen who traveled with her Honduran parents and her two older siblings to the southern U.S. border at Brownsville, Texas. The family was detained by CBP agents on May 9 and held for more than a week.
On May 14, Reyes' mother Mabel Álvarez took the child to a treatment area after she complained of abdominal pain, nasal congestion, and a cough, CBP said. Reyes tested positive for Influenza and was given medications including Tamiflu and Zofran. CBP said she was also given acetaminophen and ibuprofen.
Reyes and her family were then transported to a CBP facility in Harlingen, Texas, which is "designated for cases requiring medical isolation for individuals diagnosed with or closely exposed to communicable diseases," according to the agency.
Medical records show that Álvarez took Reyes to the Harlingen station's medical facility three times on May 17. On the last visit, Reyes appeared to be having a seizure. After her body went limp and she began bleeding from the mouth, medical staff started CPR and CBP had the girl rushed to Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen. She was pronounced dead less than an hour later.
"They killed my daughter, because she was nearly a day-and-a-half without being able to breathe," Álvarez claimed in an interview with the New York Daily News. "She cried and begged for her life and they ignored her. They didn't do anything for her."
"They never listened to me just because I am an immigrant," Álvarez said in a separate interview with Noticias Telemundo. "We want this not to go unpunished. We don't want this to happen to any other child."
\u201cHumanitarian reception for asylum seeking families, not jail/detention/custody, is what most countries offer with far less resources to those seeking protection. This was preventable. These policies are reprehensible and must end. #RestoreAsylum #WelcomeWithDignity @POTUS\u201d— Christina Asencio (@Christina Asencio) 1684642426
#WelcomeWith Dignity members from numerous advocacy groups joined Reyes' family in demanding justice.
"We are heartbroken to learn of another child's tragic death in government custody. No child should be locked in a jail, no matter where they were born," said Jennifer Anzardo Valdes, deputy director at Americans for Immigrant Justice.
"There is a long andwell-documented history of systemic abuse and mistreatment of children in CBP custody," she added. "In a landscape barren of rights for unaccompanied children, babies, and children coming to the United States with their parents, it is imperative that these vulnerable individuals are greeted with compassion and respect as they seek refuge and a better life in the United States. How many more children must die for CBP to effectuate change?"
Vanessa Cárdenas, executive director at America's Voice, said that "it is atrocious that yet another family has to mourn their child because of our collective inability to fix our broken immigration system."
"Our hearts are with her family, and tens of thousands of other families whose pursuit of a better life ends in tragedy," she added. "The CBP needs to learn from this tragedy and take the necessary steps to ensure it doesn't happen again."
\u201cCBP is an agency that should have nothing to do with children. No child should ever die in government custody again, and no parent should have their pleas for help be ignored as they watch their child's condition worsen. \n\nOur hearts go out to Anadith's family and loved ones.\u201d— Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project (@Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project) 1684790817
Reyes is the first known migrant child to die in CBP custody during the Biden administration. At least two other Honduran minors—17-year-old Ángel Eduardo Maradiaga Espinoza and a 4-year-old "medically fragile" girl—have died in U.S. custody in recent weeks.
The children's deaths come as the Biden administration rolls out controversial migrant policies following the expiration of Title 42, which was invoked by both Biden and his predecessor, former President Donald Trump, in order to deport millions of asylum-seekers under the pretext of the Covid-19 pandemic.
"It is cruel that another set of parents had to beg the CBP for medical help for their child and then watch her die because of CBP negligence," argued Ronnate Asirwatham, director of government relations for #WelcomeWithDignity member Catholic Social Justice. "We call on the Biden administration to end this cruelty and to swiftly end the practice of long-term CBP custody for immigrants."
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