Florida Democrat complains state won't have vegetable pickers once DeSantis’ immigration law goes into effect

During a brief interview with MSNBC Wednesday, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., lamented that Florida’s vegetables will start "rotting" once the state’s new anti-illegal immigrant law goes into effect this summer.

The lawmaker responded to MSNBC host Jose Diaz-Balart’s question regarding Florida Senate Bill 1718, which was signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., last week.

As the host noted in his broadcast, the new law, which goes into effect July 1, enforces "Harsher penalties for transporting undocumented immigrants into Florida," "Invalidates driver’s licenses" for those who can’t prove their legal status, requires hospitals that receive Medicaid to confirm patients’ immigration status, and allocates $12 million "to send migrants out of Florida."

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The new law also requires "some employers to use E-verify to confirm worker’s legal status."

Diaz-Balart brought on Schultz to talk about the law and its effect on the local community which has "Venezuelan exiles, Cuban exiles, Haitian exiles" and others who "may live in a mixed-status immigration family." 

Wasserman Schultz said the new legislation is creating a "horrific situation." 

"I really appreciate you shining a spotlight on this horrific situation that is wholly the responsibility of Ron DeSantis, our governor, who has created a nightmarish culture of fear for immigrants in our state," she said.

The congresswoman added that by driving out illegal immigrants, DeSantis is "going to devastate our economy, tourism, construction, agriculture." 

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"I mean you’re going to have vegetables rotting in the field, you’re going to have construction sites that will lie dormant, or certainly will struggle to get workers to help make sure that they can make progress," she continued. 

Wasserman-Schultz claimed that the tourism and restaurant industries "rely" on illegal immigrants for their workforce. 

"Can you imagine? There’s a provision in the law that requires hospitals to check the immigration status of a patient. Healthcare can never be compromised, and someone should not, not go to a hospital or seek medical care as a result of being fearful of being reported," she said. "This is just more of the same from him, distracting from the real critical issues of ensuring we can get our kids educated, that we can create more jobs, that we can make sure that here in Washington that we are supporting our nation’s veterans rather than cutting their funding, which Republicans are doing here."

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The lawmaker also mentioned that hurricane season is approaching in Florida and critiqued the governor for sending National Guardsmen to help secure the U.S. southern border after the expiration of Title 42 instead of leaving them in Florida to deal with a potential natural disaster.