佛罗里达州居民玛丽亚和她的丈夫说，他们害怕离开自己的家园。
这对夫妇是无证工人，他们只是因为害怕被驱逐出境而离家去上班。
“我们要么被锁在这里，要么永远回不了家，”不愿透露姓氏的玛丽亚用西班牙语告诉ABC新闻。
佛罗里达州的SB1718是美国最严格的移民法之一，于7月1日生效。故意运送非法移民进入美国的个人现在可能面临重罪指控。佛罗里达州还宣布发给无证移民的州外驾照无效。
接受医疗补助的医院和医疗提供者将被要求询问人们的移民身份。该法律的这些和其他特点在整个佛罗里达引起了巨大的混乱和恐惧，不仅对移民，而且对佛罗里达人。
“我们已经收到了很多来自佛罗里达人的电子邮件，他们试图为了自己和亲人的安全解释这项法律。代表佛罗里达州第42选区的民主党众议员安娜·埃斯卡马尼说:“有人联系我们，因为他们的伴侣没有合法证件。”。“我们收到了很多这样的问题，这些问题确实很独特，也很具体，但与对这项政策的困惑交织在一起。他们还能开车去上班吗?”
有望成为2024年总统候选人的共和党州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯(Ron DeSantis)表示，该法加大了对人口走私的处罚力度。当州长签署该法案成为法律时，州参议员布莱斯·英格里亚说，这给了该州“全国最雄心勃勃的反非法移民法”
州长和州参议员办公室没有回应ABC新闻的置评请求。
该法律对那些“故意和故意”运送非法移民进入美国的人处以重罪。移民倡导者表示，这种宽泛的描述将加重执法官员的负担，因为他们无权执行联邦移民法，他们需要确定一个人是否可以仅仅因为将一名无证件的亲人带入该州而受到指控。
“人们担心这会导致种族偏见，我认为这是不可避免的。人们如何在不进行种族定性的情况下执行这项法律?”南方贫困法律中心移民司法项目的高级监督律师保罗·查韦斯说。
SPLC、美国公民自由联盟和其他组织表示，他们计划对德桑蒂斯提起诉讼，特别关注该法律对运送无证移民进入该州的限制。
2023年7月1日，佛罗里达州霍姆斯特德，南佛罗里达移民社区的成员示威反对佛罗里达州的SB1718移民法。
cristobal Herrera-Ulashkevich/EPA通过Shutterstock
迈阿密-戴德警察局发言人阿尔瓦罗·萨巴莱塔(Alvaro Zabaleta)告诉美国广播公司新闻，警察不会拦截他们怀疑没有证件或可能持外州执照驾驶而没有合法公民身份的司机。他说他的部门担心这项法律会破坏移民和警察之间的信任。
“我们主要关心的是，我们不希望我们的居民害怕报警，如果他们受到身体虐待，如果他们受到性虐待，”扎巴莱塔说。“我们是来做社区警务的，我们是来参与社区事务的。我们不是来找你要文件和证件的，这不是我们的职责。”
但就在法律生效的前一天，扎巴莱塔承认，他的警察部门仍在等待佛罗里达州执法部门的指导，如何处理无证移民被发现使用合法获得的州外驾照驾驶的事件。
“我们还没有收到来自佛罗里达州执法部门帕尔默执法部门的澄清或确认。他们说他们正在努力让我们有方向，因为这对每个人来说都是一个新的领域，”他说。
该法律还试图打击雇佣非法劳工的雇主。它要求拥有25名或25名以上雇员的私营雇主使用E-Verify来确定一个人是否有工作授权。不按照法律规定使用E-Verify的雇主可能会被罚款。使用伪造或无效文件获得工作授权的个人也可能面临刑事处罚。
佛罗里达移民联盟的执行董事Tessa Petit说，佛罗里达的许多季节工人都在质疑他们今年回来是否安全。
“我们在阿拉巴马州的合作伙伴问我们，我们该怎么跟(移民)说，”她说。“我们的农业依赖于这些农民工，所以我们不知道他们是否会被允许回来。”
Eskamani说，一些建筑工地报告称，6月份，当示威者举行“没有移民的一天”抗议新法律时，他们失去了大约一半的劳动力。她还与医疗提供者保持联系，提醒他们法律不要求移民回答关于他们移民身份的问题。
全州各地的社区也一直在举办“了解你的权利”会议，教育人们在类似情况下以及如果他们被警察拦下时该怎么办。
“他们不需要提供他们的法律地位。他们不需要回答问题。他们可以恭敬地要求律师在场，无论是移民律师还是刑事辩护律师，而不必与执法部门打交道，”佛罗里达州美国公民自由联盟的工作人员律师Maite García说。
玛丽亚一直在参加这些会议，并敦促其他移民了解他们的权利。
“尽管我们可能没有证件，但我们有作为人的权利，我们可以要求得到尊重，”她说。“有时候，法律并不像写的那样得到执行。有时候更糟糕。”
Undocumented workers face uncertainty as immigration law takes effect in Florida
Florida resident María and her husband say they are afraid to leave their homes.
The couple, who are undocumented workers, only leave their house to go to work, out of fear they'll be deported.
"We're either locked inside here or we'll never come home," María, who did not want to give her last name, told ABC News in Spanish.
Florida's SB1718, one of the nation's strictest immigration laws, took effect on July 1. Individuals who knowingly transport undocumented immigrants into the state may now face felony charges. Florida has also invalidated out-of-state driver's licenses that are given to undocumented immigrants.
Hospitals and medical providers that accept Medicaid will now be required to ask people for their immigration status. These and other features of the law have caused mass confusion and fear throughout Florida, not only for immigrants but also for Floridians.
"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," said Democratic Rep. Anna Eskamani, who represents Florida's 42nd House district. "We've gotten a lot of these questions that are really unique and situationally specific but intersect with confusion about this policy. Are they going to be able to drive to work anymore?"
Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican who is a 2024 presidential hopeful, said the law increases penalties for human smuggling. When the governor signed the bill into law, state senator Blaise Ingoglia said it gives the state "the most ambitious anti-illegal immigration laws in the country."
The governor and the state senator's offices did not respond to ABC News' request for comment.
The law imposes felony charges on individuals who "knowingly and willfully" transport undocumented immigrants into the state. Immigrant advocates say this broad description will burden law enforcement officials, who are not authorized to enforce federal immigration laws, with determining whether a person can be charged simply for driving an undocumented loved one into the state.
"The fear is that this is going to just result in racial profiling and I think it's inevitable that it will be. How are people to enforce this law without engaging in racial profiling?" said Paul Chavez, senior supervising attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center's Immigrant Justice Project.
The SPLC, ACLU and other organizations said they plan to file a lawsuit against DeSantis, focusing specifically on the restrictions the law imposes on transporting undocumented immigrants into the state.
Alvaro Zabaleta, a spokesperson for the Miami-Dade Police Department, told ABC News that officers will not be stopping drivers they suspect are undocumented or may be driving with an out-of-state license without legal citizenship status. He said his department is concerned the law will destroy the trust between immigrants and the police.
"Our main concern is that we don't want our residents to be afraid to call the police if they were physically abused, if they were sexually abused," Zabaleta said. "We're here to do community policing, we're here to be involved with the community. We're not here to be walking up to you and ask you for documentation and papers, that's not our function."
But just a day before the law went into effect, Zabaleta acknowledged his police department was still waiting for guidance from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement about how to handle incidents where an undocumented immigrant is found to be driving with a legally obtained out-of-state driver's license.
"We haven't received clarification on that or confirmation from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement the Palmer law enforcement. They said they're working on getting us that so that way we have direction, because this is new territory for everyone," he said.
The law also seeks to crack down on employers who hire undocumented workers. It requires private employers with 25 or more employees to use E-Verify to determine if a person has work authorization. Employers who don't use E-Verify as mandated by the law can be fined. Individuals who use falsified or invalid documents to get work authorization can also face criminal penalties.
Tessa Petit, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition said many seasonal workers in Florida are questioning whether it's safe for them to return this year.
"We have partners in Alabama asking us what do we tell [immigrants]," she said. "Our agriculture depends on these migrant farm workers, so we don't know if they'll be allowed back in."
Eskamani said some construction sites reported missing about half of its workforce in June when demonstrators staged "a day without an immigrant" to protest the new law. She has also been in touch with medical providers to remind them that immigrants are not required by law to answer questions about their immigration status.
Communities throughout the state have also been hosting "know your rights" meetings to educate people about what to do in similar situations and if they're stopped by police.
"They do not need to provide their legal status. They do not need to answer questions. They can respectfully ask for the presence of an attorney, whether it's an immigration attorney or a criminal defense attorney and do not have to engage with law enforcement," said Maite García, staff attorney at the ACLU of Florida.
María has been going to these meetings and is urging fellow immigrants to learn about their rights.
"Even though we may be undocumented, we have rights as humans and we can ask that we're respected," she said. "Sometimes laws aren't enforced as they are written. Sometimes it's worse."
