A bill that would make it harder for undocumented immigrants to obtain certain licenses and financial assistance advanced in the Florida House on Tuesday.
The measure (HB 1307) would prohibit “unauthorized aliens” from getting any licenses the state Department of Financial Services issues, such as those related to insurance. It also would give the Division of Risk Management discretion to deny illegal immigrants’ claims, require all testing for commercial driver’s licenses to be conducted only in English and make undocumented immigrants ineligible to receive workers’ compensation.
“Florida has led the nation in fighting the dangers of illegal immigration, protecting its communities and shaping anti-illegal immigration policies,” said bill sponsor Rep. Berny Jacques, R-Seminole, who was born in Haiti. “From E-Verify requirements, participating in the 287(g) program and protecting taxpayer-funded programs, Florida has created the blueprint for other states to follow.”
The bill passed on a mostly party line 20-5 vote through the House Commerce Committee, with Rep. Kimberly Daniels of Jacksonville the only Democrat to vote for it.
Members of the public made impassioned pleas both for and against the bill.
Nikki Jones, founder and president of The Voices Foundation, which works to help people whose loved ones were killed or hurt by crimes committed by illegal immigrants, said her husband, Shane, died in a traffic accident at the hands of an illegal immigrant.
That person had already had three traffic violations before that, she noted and asked the committee members to vote yes.
Harrison Lundy, who ran for the state House in 2024, called the measure “shameful” and said his biggest concern was the language requirement for testing. “Mandating that these only exist in English is just really oppressive,” Lundy said. “There is no official one language of the United States.”
Congress has never passed a law designating an official language for the country, President Donald Trump issued an executive order last year designating English as the official language of the United States.
Yareliz Mendez-Zamora, coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee, a faith-based humanitarian nonprofit, said that laws around illegal immigrants are too in flux to make the bill viable. She pointed to a U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on Monday that allows the federal government to end Temporary Protected Status for more than 60,000 people from Nicaragua, Honduras and Nepal, paving the way for their deportation.
“We don’t know yet what’s going to come out of the courts tomorrow, and so we are putting people who are already vulnerable, people who are just trying to survive in an even more impossible situation,” she said.
Rep. Kiyan Michael, R-Jacksonville, the bill’s cosponsor, said the bill was needed because of the economic drain immigrants have on the nation.
“We have to acknowledge the strain that noncitizens are putting on our services, our law enforcement, housing, employment opportunities, financial institutions and various other agencies,” said Michael, whose son was killed in 2007 by a migrant driving without a license.
The measure faces two more committee hearings in the House before reaching the floor. The Senate version of the bill (SB 1380) hasn’t received a hearing in that chamber.
The bill is not the first legislation seeking restrictions on illegal immigrants that Jacques and Michael have introduced. In January, the House passed HB 197, which would require that all private employers use E-Verify, but it has yet to move in the Senate.
