Eagle-Glenn: Republicans must call their legislators ASAP to stop legislature from revoking DeSantis’ immigration enforcement authority
Letter to the editor
The people of Florida elected Governor DeSantis as the Chief Executive of our state to combat illegal immigration. Instead, the Florida Legislature wants to revoke this authority from DeSantis and grant it to Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson. This is a usurpation of the Executive Authority of the Governor and undercuts the will of Florida voters who voted for DeSantis by a 19-point margin in 2022 and for Trump by a 13-point margin in 2024, largely on Trump’s promises to curb illegal immigration.
The powerful Agriculture Lobby wants Wilton Simpson to be in charge of illegal immigration enforcement, but as a state senator in 2013, Wilton Simpson voted to give illegal immigrants drivers licenses, and he voted in 2014 to grant in-state college tuition to illegal immigrants. Bottom line: Simpson and the so-called legislative leaders want to keep cheap illegal farm labor in the state despite campaigning on combating illegal immigration.
ALACHUA COUNTY REPUBLICANS: Immediately contact the Republican members of the Alachua County State Legislative Delegation and demand they vote NO on this usurpation of Governor DeSantis’ Executive Authority. Debate on the bill is happening right now.
- Senator Jennifer Bradley: 904-278-2085
- Senator Stan McClain: 352-732-1249
- Representative Chuck Brannan: 904-259-0995
- Representative Chad Johnson: 352-313-6542
Raemi Eagle-Glenn, Alachua County Republican State Committeewoman
The opinions expressed by letter or opinion writers are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AlachuaChronicle.com. Assertions of facts in letters are similarly the responsibility of the author. Letters may be submitted to info@alachuachronicle.com and are published at the discretion of the editor.
Does anyone seriously think that the super red florida legislature would ever pass this law?
They’re fake red. The bills sailed through committee and will likely pass with only one or two dissenting Republican votes.
Done, just left voice mail messages for Chad Johnson and Stan McClain whose district I vote in. Taking the Executive authority on Immigration from our Govenor is a crazy idea.
Your governor will kill Ag in this state if he gets his way
What do you mean? You think all hispanics that work in Ag are illegal alien criminals? That’s really sad.
What’s killing Florida, and raping Florida, is illegal alien criminals. Looting too.
LOL…. 40 percent of migrant workers are nationwide
Immigrants – legal and illegal – commit fewer crimes than native Americans. That’s a fact.
stop supporting these ghouls selling us out $10 for eggs and they’re chasing phantoms in the name of racism, take our state back and stop letting these creatures sell us out
Illegal alien is a legal status, not a race. We’re one human race, get a clue.
Ultimately, the lure of cheap labor and repeat offenders is too much for weak non-leaders. The CITIZENS must put them in their place: at our service, not theirs.
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
That “cheap labor” keeps produce made in the USA and not super expensive.
Y’all have no idea how high prices will go if we lose these efficient workers.
It ain’t cheap
What do you mean? You think all hispanics that work in Ag are illegal alien criminals? That’s really sad.
LOL… an estimated 40 percent of ag workers in the US are undocumented
I love it. Republicans fighting each other.
“I’m more conservative than you.”
“No I am a bigger MAGApublican than you are.”
I’ll make the popcorn.
Oh, and can someone remind Raimin Noodle-Glenn that she LOST the election. Even her fellow MAGApublicans don’t like her message.
And remind her the bill passed tonight. Guess her oversize influence is not that big after all.
Weirdo democrat
This is such an amusing comment section. Like the above comment. Someone who has his/her/they/its lips superglued to the MAGA size posterior of Donald J. Trump thinks he/she/they/it is a fit judge to call someone else “weird”.
Yeah, like you. Weird
Actually, it gives DeSantis an “out” for his next campaign. He can say the Legislature took over immigration enforcement from him. 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 winning 🥳🤩
That’s how it works.
That also rains true about democrats attacking other democrats over the Harris/Walz failed campaign, and who is more of democrat then the other. Now they are attacking a Kennedy. At this rate the GOP will not have to worry about losing a federal election again.
One article quoted Senate President Ben Albritton, “…added, rebuking DeSantis. ‘It’s about following the leader you trust. I trust President Trump.’”
What a choice! But that’s today’s GOP, a cult for a despicable, lying, criminal who will kiss his butt in public.
Embarrassing!
Yet your side can’t come up with anyone to beat either. If they are so horrible isn’t more embarrassing that no one can come up with an argument to beat either?
Effective leadership = “criminal tyrant” — ACLUSPLCDNC 👿🤡👹💩👺
And Biden/Harris was your choice?
Yes Trump is a braggart but he’s bringing our country back from the wasteful ruins of the Biden administration.
Watch another news source other than CNN or MSNBC.
Trump is much more than braggart. He’s an ignorant lying creep who sexually attacks women and hires others like him, and uses the power of the state to punish personal enemies – he has rescinded security protection for his national security advisor, secretary of state, head of the pentagon, and head of the CDC, all of whom have faced real threats, including by the Iranians (Bolton was highly critical of Biden too, but Biden provided him the security detail). In short, none of this is a secret and he’s a complete scumbag. If you voted for him twice, there’s is something seriously wrong with you and your claim to being a decent human being is in serious doubt.
You forget the Biden crime family
Name the crime dummy. The GOP House spent the last 2 years investigating Biden and came up empty. Trump was convicted of a felony, indicted for 3 other felonies, successfully sued for sexual aggression, which he admitted on a tape we have all heard, and impeached twice while his daughter got special tax treatment from the Chinese in her business and his son in law got free money from the Saudi’s.
Attention dummy Jazzman. The entire Biden crime family had to be pardoned.
From the party of “Men can have babies!”
From the party of fixing the mess the GOP leaves when they vacate the presidency. US economy now is the envy of the world and crime stats are way down. Compare to the dumpster fire – and huge addition to the national debt from his rich boys tax cut – Trump left after pretending for months (he admitted it on tape to Bob Woodard) that Covid would just go away. 2nd time he’s been handed an economy in great shape which he pretends is terrible and enough dummies believe to put him in office.
Fixing the mess of the Biden crime family
Spoken by the strange dude Jazzman
Raise your hand if you or your kids are going to pick the vast variety of fruits & vegetables from the number of farms across our state. Oh, no takers?? Okay, hush.
I picked as a kid, not a problem. Loved the pay!
As an independent, I used to have some respect for you.
Sounds like the Commissioner of Ag is a smart man who realizes that some undocumented laborers are necessary for Ag on US soil. Farmers of labor-intensive crops barely compete with cheap produce from abroad as it is now. If they have to pay 5x what they pay now to get competent US workers, they will go under.
I don’t want the US to lose the ability to produce its own food supply. I don’t want more family farms turned into subdivisions.
I have picked produce in the hot Florida sun. I know how bloody hard it is.Those who have done it for so long aren’t the ones who need to go. These workers are quick and efficient. They don’t commit crimes. They are there to earn money to send home to their families.
DeSantis wants them to show papers to send remittances via Western Union, etc. If that happens, agriculture will dry up quickly in Florida.
That sounds very much like the arguments used to justify slavery in the 1800s. Disgusting. Cheap food is more important to you than paying people fair wages.
LOL… they are being paid fair wages.
Enjoy having to import food from other countries if they go.
Why is grow my own vegetables and fruit. I don’t need their assistance. Just more rock salt to keep trespassers out
The average hourly wage for a migrant worker is $14/hr in Florida, btw. I guess that’s not a “fair wage” according to you?
Migrant, or Ag worker? Don’t conflagrate the two.
migrant
Those are reported wages. Under-the-table wages are not reported. Also, those “associated costs” you mention in another comment are TAXES – you know, the same ones our employers have to pay (half from the worker, half from the employer). Enforcement on farmworkers has stepped up in the past few years, and most employers have managed to hire legal workers (who are usually still foreign workers but here legally); the rest will figure it out if they’re forced to but are currently happy to put more money in their own pockets by evading the law.
Another point: workers here illegally get no protection from labor laws and are afraid to report violations in working conditions or living conditions because they could be deported. They are explicitly a lower class of worker, and you seem to be fine with that.
the associated costs aren’t “taxes” they are fees for visas, housing, transportation, etc
And the $14/hr is the under the table rate. They are more likely to be exploited under the H-2A program, btw.
Long time undocumented residents are less likely to be exploited than temp workers who come in on a visa program
You’re just spewing propaganda because everything you claim comes from NGOs who benefit from the current situation. None of it can be backed up by any official data. All of this is a narrative that is used to justify human trafficking of people across our borders for cheap labor.
Give me a break. I know the situation because I have a background in agriculture and I studied the situation first hand for more than a decade in Miami.
I also know the perils of being dependent on another country for food
You really want all our produce to come from places like Mexico where worker conditions are abysmal? Do you think they screen for ecoli outbreaks as well as in the US?
My preference would be for them to fix the guest worker program. Better yet, let farmers help screen some of their workers to give a longterm ag visa to. Farmers don’t want drugged out criminals working for them. They know who keeps a clean record and works hard.
I don’t like that farmers have to rely on some undocumented workers but it’s the best option they have to stay in business and keep producing crops on US soil.
I like having farmers and knowing I can buy produce grown in the US
They need to fix the visa program so our farmers in labor-intensive ag can stay competitive
Also, I shouldn’t have to explain to you that many undocumented workers actually do pay taxes into the system but get nothing out of it, especially those longtime undocumented migrant workers. And the farmers pay their share too via an EIN (worker #) instead of SS#.
And finally, there are many advocacy groups for undocumented migrant pickers. They are not “lower class.” Shame on you for saying otherwise
I am not and never will be ashamed of requiring businesses to compete on a level playing field instead of exploiting desperate workers. I’m even more against government turning a blind eye to violations from campaign donors.
Compete on a level field against farmers in Latin America? They aren’t exploiting “desperate workers.” Workers come to them to earn money. Maybe they could fix the visa system so farmers can make a living using the guest worker program
Most of the migrant farm workers should be here on green cards and authorized to work. Working here and then sending all the money back to a foreign country is not in the best interest of Florida as a whole. In any case, there are plenty of migrant farm workers with green cards, probably the vast majority. Many Asian restaurant employees are also here on green cards and are not in danger of deportation unless they haven’t kept up with renewing their green cards or have committed crimes. I doubt any who have been working for a long time will actually be deported. Trump is not stupid, and the Feds are the ones doing the deporting, not DeSantis.
You mean H-2A visas? Migrant workers are generally on temp ag visas (H-2As) if they are here legally, not green cards.
The problem with H-2A is that it is expensive and cumbersome to navigate and farmers would rather pay $17/hr or more to experienced longtime undocumented pickers than $17/hr to an H-2A visa holder plus an additional $7-$8/hr in associated costs.
I guess DeSantis made hiring undocumented ag workers harder with his 2023 law, but I guarantee some farmers in more immigrant friendly areas are finding ways to get around the law. If you don’t believe me spend some time in Homestead.
Regardless, 40 percent of ag workers in the US are undocumented. The average US wage is $18-$19/hr for a migrant worker.
As for remittances: if all ag workers were legal, then the majority would be on H-2A visas (temp) and all the money would go home with them. I’m fine either way. If remittances help improve their home country, then that’s a win too. Unfortunately, H-2A workers are more likely to be exploited than undocumented workers (true story)
I don’t know about Chinese restaurants here, but I guarantee there is a thriving market for undocumented workers in places like Miami.
They need to fix the visa program for migrant workers or leave undocumented pickers alone.
You. Will. Not. Get. Qualified. US. Citizens. to. do. that. Work.
Migrant workers are not the issue. I lived down the way from a house full of them in my 20s- early 30s in Miami. I was a thin blond gringa, considered fairly attractive. I used to run at 5 am by myself when they would ride their bikes to nearby nurseries. They never bothered me. No attacks, thefts or worse
DOGE is submitting reforms for all H2 visas. Problem, created by Dem bureaucrats to support illegal immigration, will be fixed shortly.
From your argument, I gather that it’s the farmers at fault here, the same farmers in the pants of the RINOs in our Legislature.
Farmers are not the bad guys here
No, I don’t mean H-2A Visas, which are temporary work permits. A Green Card allows someone to stay for years as a non-citizen resident and work, not a temporary worker for a short period of time. A Green Card can be part of a legal pathway to citizenship.
There are plenty of illegal farm workers and employees at Asian restaurants, but there are also plenty of others who aren’t illegal.
My overall point, which seems to have been missed, is that even the illegals – however many there may be – probably don’t have to worry about being deported if they in fact have a history of working. Those who came here to mooch off the system may not get the same treatment.
Green cards are exceedingly hard to get now.
Incorrect as usual
Send them home
What an awesome idea, Walk!!! Send them all home, and then we can conscript our youth to spend their summers picking crops in awful conditions like they used to do in Soviet Russia! Brilliant! So much for STEM camp and my daughter’s reading list. She can pick crops!!!
Correct. The local unemployed youth need something to do to keep them away from selling drugs and doing drive by shootings. I hear they are just BEGGING for the city leaders to create jobs picking crops or working in a big box warehouse. These minimum wage jobs jobs jobs will entice them away from a life of crime. All these former gangsters will buy a house with a picket fence and vote Republican, the American Dream. Thanks to our elected officials.
There you go again. You think all hispanics that work in Ag are illegal alien criminals? That’s really sad.
Approx 40 percent of pickers are in the US. Most in nurseries and landscaping in Miami are (I lived there for 17 years, I know a lot about the workforce there from my former career).
By-the-way, I know plenty of Latinos that own the farms in Homestead too
Prices of fruits and vegetables were a lot cheaper when migrate workers who worked in the U.S. actually had work permits.
When? Back in the 1980s?
We Americans are lucky as hell that our neighbors are the hard working Mexicans and the easy going Canadians. Could be Germany or Russia.
Baloney.
Thank you Raemi Eagle-Glenn for posting who to contact and their phone numbers . I called and left my opinion. I sure don’t want Wilton Simpson in charge of illegal immigration enforcement with the voting record he has. Gov Desantis is a great governor and has a mandate from the people of Florida to do what is is trying to do! I don’t understand the revolt from Florida Republican members of the legislature. We need to stick together and support the governor.
The Gov has vetoed this bill the legislature passed.
Kudos to Ramein-Noodle Glenn for writing this letter. The Gov has noticed, and put you on top of the “Loyal arse kissing toadie lackie List of people to be appointed to the next available appointment.” Good work, you are closer than ever to getting that big government paycheck you want more than anything else.