Florida Immigration Law: These Driver's Licences Are Now Invalid in the State

Thanks to Ron DeSantis's new Florida immigration law, several licenses are now considered invalid in the state of Florida as the state continues its hardline approach to tackling immigration despite the looming immigration crisis it is expected to bring on.

The banned licenses are from states that mostly offer limited driving privileges to undocumented immigrants as they do not consider valid identification in order to get one. The announcement was made by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles on Wednesday.

According to Yahoo! News, the state driver's licenses that are now invalid in the state are from Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Rhode Island, and Vermont. The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles stated that the list "unavoidably is evolving, may change due to the revision of driver license issuance requirements in other states, and will be updated periodically."

The controversial new Florida law backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis is called SB 1718, which took effect on Saturday. It requires businesses to check the immigration status of workers and hospitals to ask patients about their immigration status. It also made it illegal to transport undocumented immigrants in the state.

Statewide protests were held after the law came to pass and has since brought about a mass exodus of immigrant workers across the state. Construction sites, restaurants, and farms all over Florida are being found empty as businesses struggle to find employees.

Many fear that the lack of workers will lead to a labor crisis, which may soon evolve into an economic crisis as the state economy relies on some of these industries that need cheap immigrant labor.

Legal Advocates Challenging Controversial Florida Immigration Law

Meanwhile, SB 1718 will be challenged in court as immigrant and legal advocates have filed a lawsuit against the bill's constitutionality. Critics say that the bill "was designed to keep an already vulnerable group susceptible to abuse and exploitation."

"If they are fearful of their immigration status and their lack of rights, it becomes more difficult for them to feel comfortable raising their voices and speaking out if they see any type of abuses," Neza Xiuhtecutli, general coordinator for the Farmworkers Association of Florida told WESH-2.

The organization is one of the many groups trying to take down the controversial new Florida immigration law, the same one that has banned driver's licenses from other states.

"In rural areas we saw, some of our organizers there saw reports of police asking people for their immigration status," he said, describing how the new DeSantis law opened the door for discrimination.

Undocumented Immigrants Now Face Uncertainty After New Florida Law Takes Effect

As the law now takes effect, immigrants living in Florida are afraid to even leave their homes for fear of getting deported. One couple spoke with ABC News, with the wife, Maria, saying, "We're either locked inside here or we'll never come home."

Immigrants are also trying to contact their representatives in the state legislature, with Democratic Rep. Anna Eskamani saying, "We've been getting a lot of emails from Floridians who are trying to interpret the law for their own safety and for the safety of their loved ones. We've had folks contact us because their partner is undocumented."

As immigrants face uncertainty, critics are slamming DeSantis, saying that this new Florida law was made to court the white Republican base at the expense of his state's economy.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: 'Our governor is a job-killing moron': DeSantis immigration policy threatens state economy - MSNBC