What Happened After Florida Cracked Down on Undocumented Workers

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Cracking down on undocumented immigrants has led some workers to leave the state, which is making it harder for some small businesses to fill job openings.

Despite expectations of significant disruptions, the law hasn't led to major changes in the state's labor market so far. Provisions were watered down either before the bill was passed or during its implementation, and the state hasn't actively enforced the law.

Initially, when the law was introduced, a significant number of people fled," said Tibor Torok, president of Bob Hilson & Co., a roofing company in Homestead. "I've since heard and seen that a lot of them have returned because there was essentially no enforcement of the law.

Torok said about five of the 35 employees working for him left suddenly after the law passed, with some relocating to North Carolina and Indiana. Three of them have since returned, looking to get their old jobs back, according to Torok, who was unable to rehire them because of concerns regarding their paperwork.

to verify the eligibility of workers for employment or face fines of up to $1,000 per day. It also invalidated out-of-state driver's licenses issued to individuals who are not authorized to be in the U.S. and increased penalties for transporting undocumented immigrants.

“Florida's economy keeps getting stronger after the state enacted its E-Verify law, making history.” said a spokeswoman for FloridaCommerce, a state agency.

During his campaign, he pledged the largest deportation initiative in U.S. history and will likely eliminate programs focusing on migrants seeking asylum.

The law in Florida has some of the toughest punishments for companies that try to hire people who are in the U.S. without proper documentation. When it went into effect, some people said the measure would make existing labor shortages in fields like construction, agriculture, and tourism even worse, harming the state's economy.

According to Madeline Zavodny, an economist at the University of North Florida, preliminary information indicates that Florida hasn't experienced a substantial decrease in the number of workers compared to other states. The economist suggests the state may have compensated for some job vacancies by welcoming immigrants from places like Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, who have been temporarily allowed to work in the US with special permits.

Immigration supporters and small business owners stated that changes to the original law along with legal challenges have made the statute's effect less significant. “There is harm,” said Renata Bozzetto, deputy director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition, a group advocating for the rights of immigrants. “Many things have changed so that the impact turned out to be different from what we initially anticipated.”

A long-standing issue exists in Florida, particularly within the construction and agricultural industries, which rely heavily on immigrants to fill labor gaps. Non-citizen immigrants made up 34% of Florida workers in the construction industry and 47% of those in farming and fishing, according to an analysis of 2022 data from the Census Bureau conducted by KFF, a health policy research organization.

Initially proposed, the Florida law mandated that all companies use the federal E-Verify system. However, prior to its passage, the legislation was altered to only apply to businesses with 25 or more employees. The new law excludes independent contractors and only covers new hires, not existing staff.

In Florida, 87% of businesses are small, employing less than 20 people, as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Brite Leaf Citrus Nursery, in Lake Panasoffkee, is exempt because it has 22 employees, said Nate Jameson, who owns the business with his wife, Anna Jameson. The nursery gets half of its workforce through the H-2A visa program, which is for seasonal employment. As long as they have a strong program for guest workers, Jameson said, it's not much of a problem.

Some business owners claim that the law has a chilling effect, making it hard for them to grow. Mark Baker, a nursery and landscaping company owner in Boynton Beach, said he lost around 10% of his 100-person staff after the law took effect. The E-Verify provision has made it hard for him to hire new employees and expand his business, he said. This week, about half a dozen people looking for work stopped by but couldn't provide the necessary documents to prove they could legally work. "E-Verify was the final piece of bad news," Baker said.

Anxious feelings have grown among immigrants and their families. Sixty-three percent of people who are not U.S. citizens and one-third of U.S. citizens whose parents are immigrants reported feeling increased financial stress because of this new law, based on a study from last year of 466 people with different immigration statuses who had been living in Florida for at least a year.

“Distress levels were incredibly high,” said the study's lead author, Elizabeth Aranda, director of the University of South Florida's Migrant Well-Being Research Center.

Former Republican state Representative Rick Roth, who voted for the law and owns a family farm in Belle Glade, stated that the effects on many agricultural businesses have been minimal as farmers typically rely on the federal government's H-2A program for seasonal workers.

Roth stated that he thinks the law has generally worked as it was supposed to – making it clear to unauthorized migrants that they are not welcome in Florida and that they should remain elsewhere.

He mentioned that "not a lot of action is being taken to enforce things."

She was going to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, but it did not include any funding for enforcement.

Another part of the law makes invalid any driver's licenses issued to people who are not allowed to be in the United States. Originally, Florida applied this ban to five states, but it was later narrowed down to two: Connecticut and Delaware. Florida state officials explained that the listed states are the ones where the driver's license or permit is only given to immigrants who are not allowed to be in the country.

John Horne of Oysters Rock Hospitality, which has seven restaurants and more than 420 employees in the Sarasota area, stated that after the law came into effect, the number of resumes submitted for open positions dropped by about 25% to 50%. This decrease made it more difficult for him to find staff for two new restaurants his company opened in the past 18 months.

It's a headache for us right now," Horne said. But "it hasn't created as big a challenge as we thought it would when the law passed.

arian.campo-flores@wsj.com