Ron DeSantis and the Florida GOP’s horrific anti-child agenda continues to advance, just hours after senators passed the bigoted “Don’t Say Gay” bill on Tuesday. HB 1557 “pretends to be about ‘parental rights’ but is actually about stamping out LGBTQ+ identities, people, and histories from public school classrooms,” Daily Kos’ Marissa Higgins wrote yesterday.
That same day, late into the evening, the house debated anti-immigrant legislation that targets asylum-seeking children and other migrants, as well as expands Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s grip, with plans to vote on it Wednesday. Debate on SB 1808 that evening was no less cruel than the debate on HB 1557 earlier that day.
“Republicans in the Florida House just voted down all amendments to soften a really awful bill that blocks unaccompanied refugee children from seeking shelter in the state to be reunited with family and loved ones,” local advocate Thomas Kennedy tweeted.
Nor did GOP lawmakers appear to know what’s really in SB 1808, both Kennedy and Rep. Carlos Smith, the state’s first openly LGBT Latino lawmaker, noted Tuesday evening.
“@RepDotieJoseph is demolishing @Johnfsnyder in the Florida House floor,” Kennedy wrote. “Snyder sounds unprepared and admitted to lacking basic knowledge about his own bill that blocks unaccompanied migrant children from being reunited with family in the state. Embarrassing to watch.”
What they know for sure is that they’re doing Ron DeSantis’ anti-immigrant bidding, which has been rebuked by local families, formerly unaccompanied minors, and faith leaders.
Ignite Life Center Associate Pastor Nicole Gomez told Miami Herald last month that her church has assisted hundreds of unaccompanied kids. “We sit across from them,” she said in the report. “We know their stories and we have been blessed by them.” She’s among faith leaders who have visited the capital to urge lawmakers to oppose this bill.
DeSantis has also faced a blistering rebuke from Archbishop of Miami Thomas Wenski, which prompted a gross attack from degenerate internet troll and spokesperson to DeSantis, Christina Pushaw. Latina faith leaders have also condemned lawmakers, criticizing them “for painting themselves as ‘pro-life’ while moving to cut services for immigrant children,” Florida Phoenix reported Tuesday. No lies detected here.
“As followers of Jesus, these leaders have repeatedly shared their beliefs in referencing the Bible, which says, ‘Anyone who welcomes a child in my name, welcomes me,’” the report said the letter stated. “They believe that by shutting down shelters and seeking to remove immigrants from Florida, the governor and the Florida State Legislature are attempting to stop them from doing the work that God has called them to do.”
“Recent actions by Republican lawmakers in the state of Florida in support of pro-life abortion policies only reveals how inconsistent these leaders’ pro-life agenda really is,” the report said the letter continued.
The Biden administration’s recent action may have shut down a separate anti-child plan by DeSantis to block the license renewals of federally funded facilities where vulnerable kids are held, but non-profit organizations remained wary.
In a Miami Herald op-ed Monday, state Rep. Kevin Chambliss called SB 1808 “a solution in search of a problem. And solutions provided create a host of new problems that will put children’s lives at risk.”
“These children coming here today reflect the journey my ancestors took years ago,” he wrote. “But while my ancestors arrived in this country on slave ships, brought against their will by human traffickers seeking to use their bodies as currency, these children were sent here by their families in search of a brighter future. Unfortunately, the reception both received is much too similar.”
“Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Republicans are demonizing new, undocumented immigrants, painting them as brutish ‘others’ undeserving of our compassion and arguing, absent proof, that they bring untold levels of crime and violence to our shores,” Chambliss continued.
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