ORLANDO, Fla. — A group of faith leaders rallied in Orlando on Monday to oppose E-Verify, the federal system to check the immigration status of workers.
Latino evangelical leaders said, as written, the state's E-Verify plan would require them to investigate their fellow ministers regarding their immigration status.
Meanwhile, in Tallahassee, the bill has the backing of Gov. Ron DeSantis, but that doesn't mean it'll pass before the session ends Friday.
For now, the plan would require all business, private and public to either use the federal E-Verify database or have the employee fill out an I-9 form, attesting that the employee is eligible to work in the U.S.
For the most part, DeSantis has stayed out of the discussions over the bill, but he did offer a warning to lawmakers at the Daytona 500.
"It's popular across the board, and I can tell you this, for Republicans, I would not want to be a Republican office holder running in a Republican primary who voted against doing something on this," DeSantis said.
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The bill passed the Senate Monday afternoon, and is headed to the House, where its fate is very much uncertain.
The speaker of the house has been critical of the burdens the bill would place on businesses, something that could doom the bill with less than a week left in the session.
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