Florida Republican State Rep. Rick Roth is also a farmer who speaks to other farmers about the deleterious effect Ron DeSantis’ recently passed anti-immigrant bill is having on their community, causing migrant farm workers to flee the state and Hispanic Teamsters refusing to enter Florida to pick up what produce they have managed to salvage from their fields.
The protests from his constituents grew so loud that he asked to speak to a group of Hispanic Religious Leaders last week to explain that the bill, which gives the state and police new powers to harass and bully migrant workers, wasn’t really meant to be policy, but rather just political positioning meant to “scare” hard working farm workers… but not meant to drive them from the state their tormentors are running into the ground.
“Ron DeSantis’s Florida GOP thought it got what it wanted in passing SB 1718, “the toughest immigration law in the nation,” instead they’re getting what they deserve. The law gave the DeSantis campaign a tank of political fuel in an America First party that believes immigrants are ruining this nation.
It is a given that “the cruelty is the point,” but this law is so cruel that advisories were sent out, urging Hispanics and POC to avoid the dangers awaiting in Florida. Now, migrants who were working in Florida are leaving, and GOP politicians are terrified, seeing crops rotting in the fields, construction sites halved, and hotel rooms uncleaned.
Deservedly, Republican officials in Florida sense an emergency and have begun begging migrants to stay, admitting the GOP’s duplicity, while lying in saying the law is “political” and not “policy. The invaluable Florida Politics reports that “Republican state Representatives urged a group of Hispanic religious leaders to counsel their flocks not to abandon their jobs in Florida — even if they are not in the country legally.”
The cynicism and utter shamelessness are both breathtaking and in the open.”
I’ll say.
Democratic National Committee member and immigrant rights activist Thomas Kennedy posted video of Roth’s duplicitous speech to the Hispanic leaders on Twitter and some of the relies are 🔥🔥🔥…
How about these people complaining they’re losing all their field workers stop voting for fascists leaders in the first place 🫠
— R3.og 🥚 – 👾 (@rcubed2003) June 5, 2023
That would be a good start.
Don’t trust a word the FL government says.
— 💙 Liberal 💙 is a compliment! (@LadyBlueInCA) June 6, 2023
East enough.
Asked our regular lawn guy to do a bunch of big tree trimming jobs at our house. He swooshed his hand upward in frustration and said all his guys fled “north”, so he didn’t know if he’d be able to do it.
— John Weller 🏳️🌈 (@DarkHeliopause) June 5, 2023
Wait til it is time to clean up after a hurricane.
Lol, you people are disgusting. Won’t admit even a basic fact that they are begging them to stay and work, even though the bill is obviously targeted at this population. You can have workers or culture war nonsense, not both.
— Covert Goat (@CovertGoat) June 6, 2023
Yup
It's embarrassingly bad the way that guy refers to "your people". Doubly so that he needs an interpreter to reach those he's addressing.
— Alan Stacey (@AlanVRK) June 6, 2023
👍
I hear Nikki Haley, Chris Christie, Asa Hutchinson and Mike Pence will soon all be looking for work. Throw in Tucker, Trump, Rudy and Tulsi Gabbard and they should at least be able to supply the roadside stand with fresh picked corn on the cob.
— Meidas Rick 🏳️🌈🇺🇦 (@RandallUhrig) June 5, 2023
I’d pay good money to watch that.
But my understanding was they were taking other people’s jobs. Where are the people who so desperately wanted these jobs?
— Jen Dixon (@Jenniration) June 5, 2023
🤣🤣🤣
I’m glad they passed this Bill,not that I want Florida’s economy to fall or immigrants to suffer but we need to get rid of Republicans in this state & this bill also shows other states they need to do the same,DeSantis actually thought this would be a good campaign tool smh 🤦🏽♂️
— romeo (@arthuromeo) June 5, 2023
Yup
I’m guessing that the Hispanics Roth was addressing were fellow travelers of the Republicans who passed this bill.
That is why he is so comfortable, while urging them to basically lie to and sell out “their people” to praise both Trump and DeSantis at the end of his speech.
Florida Republics want to enjoy their prerogative to harass, exploit and intimidate migrant workers but really, really, really don’t want them to leave.
Coming next:
Fascists in the state legislature will introduce a bill closing the border to migrants wishing to LEAVE the state.
At this point nothing would surprise me.
What he’s trying to say in code is – please get them to stay/come back and work. We PROMISE not to mess with them. (Until the crops are picked and packed!)
The crops are all in, and the peaches are rotten
The oranges are all packed in the creosote dumps
They’re flying them back to the Mexican Border
To save all their money then wade back again
When the citizens and the oppressed poor & immigrants get reamed up the arse by the rich liars enough times, MAYBE there will be a nonviolent, but effective revolution to overthrow these nazi liars and child killers. Until then, enjoy the unwanted rapes. You will not stop them until THEY SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES OF THEIR LIES AND GREED! FACT!
He’s saying a LAW is just political but not policy? It’s not policy until the authorities come knocking on your door or drag you off the field and ship you over the border. One of the tweeters made a good point – where are all the people who claimed they were losing out on all those high paying field, hotel, gardening, janitorial and dishwashing jobs?
Hmm. So, does this bill do ANYTHING to punish the “good” folks who are hiring these “illegals” in the first place? If it’s like any of the other similar bills GOPers have been pressing (like the disastrous one passed a couple of years ago in Alabama–with *HILARIOUS* results if you love a good dose of schadenfreude with your coffee and biscuits), then I’d have to say you’ve got basically a little slap-on-the-wrist to the “small businessmen” (and some not-so-small businessmen) hiring these folks for near-slave wages, especially the ones who can manage to keep a straight face when they said they were hired in good faith (the old “I didn’t realize their IDs were forged!” ploy).