{"id":73384,"date":"2025-06-06T12:43:28","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T19:43:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=73384"},"modified":"2025-06-06T12:43:28","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T19:43:28","slug":"rights-groups-sue-florida-over-law-banning-immigrants-from-civic-participation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=73384","title":{"rendered":"Rights Groups Sue Florida Over Law Banning Immigrants from Civic Participation"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>Peter Schurmann<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Supporters of an amendment to expand Medicaid eligibility in Florida are gathering signatures for the 2026 ballot. A new law makes it illegal for non-citizens to participate in that process.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In May Florida passed a law making it illegal for non-citizens to participate in signature gathering efforts as part of the state\u2019s initiative process. Immigrant rights groups have now joined a lawsuit arguing enforcement of the law violates constitutional protections.<\/p>\n

HB 1205 is the latest in a series of efforts by GOP lawmakers in Florida to curtail the political and civic participation of immigrants in the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is anti-democratic on its face,\u201d says Cesar Ruiz, associate counsel at Latino Justice PRLDEF, which advocates for the legal rights of Latinos nationwide and is one of two groups representing plaintiffs in the case. \u201cIt\u2019s consistent with what they have done in the past, trying to erode public faith in democracy and institutions, and also taking away power from the voters.\u201d<\/p>\n

The case revolves around a ballot initiative that seeks to expand access to Medicaid for Florida\u2019s neediest. The state ranks\u00a04th<\/sup>\u00a0in the number of uninsured nationwide<\/a>. The measure would lower the threshold for Medicaid eligibility to 138% of the poverty line, allowing an estimated 1.4 million additional Floridians to gain coverage. Polling shows overwhelming bi-partisan support (north of 70%) for Medicaid expansion.<\/p>\n

Supporters, including a number of Community Based Organizations serving Black and Latino communities across Florida, have joined in the effort to gather the 900,000 signatures needed to put the measure on the 2026 ballot. But passage of HB 1205 means anyone who is not a citizen is barred from participating in the signature gathering effort.<\/p>\n

Latino Justice and the non-profit Demos are representing the grassroots group Poder LatinX alongside two lawful permanent residents, Yivian Lopez Garcia and Humberto Orjuela Prieto, who wish to serve as petition circulators, in the case.<\/p>\n

\u201cHB 1205 is a blatant attack on our immigrant communities,\u201d said Yadira Sanchez, executive director of Poder Latinx, in a statement announcing the lawsuit. \u201cSome of the most committed organizers in our movement are Latino immigrants, and this law tells them they can\u2019t even gather signatures to help improve their own communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, on June 4 a federal judge\u00a0ruled against plaintiffs<\/a>\u00a0seeking to block enforcement of HB 1205, noting they had failed to prove they were \u201cseverely burdened\u201d by the law\u2019s requirements.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is far from the final word,\u201d said Mitch Emerson, a spokesperson with Florida Decides Healthcare, which brought the initial suit against HB 1205. Legal challenges are ongoing as groups like PoderLatinX seek to block some or all of the law\u2019s provisions.<\/p>\n

The law \u201cdoes many awful things,\u201d says Ruiz, adding to what is already one of the nation\u2019s strictest amendment processes.<\/p>\n

A previous law, SB 7050, dramatically raised the number of signatures required for an amendment to land on the ballot (almost one million), while also requiring 60% support from voters to pass rather than a simple majority. SB 7050 also made it illegal for non-citizens to participate in voter registration efforts.<\/p>\n

HB 1205 adds new hurdles, including requiring amendment sponsors to post a $1 million bond to the state\u2019s Department of Elections. \u201cThese proposed changes would drastically limit access to the amendment process to billionaires and corporate elite donors,\u201d notes the ACLU, among the groups suing Florida.<\/p>\n

But, according to Ruiz, the worst aspect of HB 1205 is that it \u201cputs a target on the back of immigrants,\u201d feeding into the broader anti-immigrant narrative coming out of the White House.<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s elected officials \u201cdon\u2019t want non-citizens to feel welcome in the state of Florida,\u201d he said, \u201cand they don\u2019t want non-citizens to do jobs that can undergird lives for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canvassing, especially in a state like Florida, where distances are long and the heat often intense, can be a demanding job. \u201cSo this narrows the pool of individuals,\u201d explains Ruiz, often drawing non-US citizens \u201cattracted to this work because they want to give back, and because it provides the flexibility they need to fill gaps and cover their living expenses.\u201d<\/p>\n

He adds, \u201cA blanket ban on non-citizens engaging in this type of work doesn\u2019t serve the public interest. It is in violation of the 14th<\/sup>\u00a0Amendment and our guarantee to equal protection under the law. And it infringes on the 1st<\/sup>\u00a0Amendment rights of organizations to hire individuals that are part of their community and that make up a large part of their work force.\u201d<\/p>\n

Supporters of HB 1205 argue the law is needed to safeguard the integrity of Florida\u2019s amendment process.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe initiative petition process is broken, and we need to put in safeguards to protect the citizens of the state of Florida from the known fraud that we know is occurring,\u201d Fort Myers Republican State Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka\u00a0told reporters<\/a>\u00a0after its passage.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur constitution should not be easy to change,\u201d\u00a0said Panama City Republican, State Rep. Philip Wayne Griffitts, Jr.<\/p>\n

But in a state where Republicans control all branches of government, the amendment process remains a singular tool for communities to shape policy that may otherwise run afoul of the state\u2019s GOP-led agenda, says Ruiz.<\/p>\n

In 2024 an amendment to enshrine abortion rights in Florida\u2019s constitution fell just short (57%) of the state\u2019s new 60% threshold. While Republicans alleged fraud in that effort, and have opened an investigation into allegations over potentially forged signatures, Ruiz says the movement\u2019s success rattled lawmakers and prompted them to clamp down yet further.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we saw from the legislature is an effort to diminish the ability to access the petitioning process because it has been so effective,\u201d he noted. HB 1205, he adds, \u201cis an attack on the immigrant community, on direct democracy and it is blatantly unconstitutional.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ByPeter Schurmann Jun 6, 2025 Supporters...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-u-s-a"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=73384"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73385,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73384\/revisions\/73385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=73384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=73384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=73384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}