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When a Florida Farmer-Legislator Turned Against Immigration, the Consequences Were Severe. But Not for Him. (www.propublica.org)

submitted 13 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Rick Roth is a staunch Republican and a conservative member of the Florida Legislature, but he’s quick to point out that he’s first and foremost a farmer. Roth grows vegetables, rice and sugar cane on the thousands of acres passed down to him from his father, in Palm Beach County south of Lake Okeechobee. And because the farm relies on a steady stream of laborers, most of them from Mexico, Roth spent substantial time over the last three decades, before and after he became a politician, trying to stop lawmakers from messing with his workforce.

A big part of that fight was against legislation that would make employers verify their workers’ immigration status. Such laws, Roth once said, would bankrupt farmers like him.

But by 2023, when Florida was once again considering such a bill, Roth’s convictions had grown shaky. In May of that year, he sat and listened as his Democratic colleagues voiced their opposition: “This bill will tank our state’s economy by directly harming Florida's agriculture, hospitality and construction industries,” one of them warned.

Several minutes later, (he) rose from his seat on the House floor, peered through reading glasses and delivered a statement antithetical to what the 70-year-old had long stood for: “I rise in support of SB 1718,” he announced. First among his reasons, he said, was an “invasion” of immigrants at the border. He called it a “ticking time bomb.”

Roth didn’t mention it on the House floor or broadcast it to his constituents, but the visa program made his farm mostly impervious to the provisions he’d rallied against in the past. As anxiety gripped communities of undocumented people and many of their employers, Roth Farms was going to be just fine.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

These people are disgusting individuals. They don't actually want to deport all immigrants. They want to solidify immigrants as second class citizens. Why do you think Trump picked a easily passable wall to build? The wall is a symbol of oppression, not a actual piece of infrastructure meant for safety.

I grew up in a farm town. The "illegal" immigrants that were my neighbors and friends weren't sent from insane asylums or rapist. They were normal ass people fleeing 500 years of colonialism, exploitative profiteering, western interventions, and outsourced violence due to "the war on drugs." When the local immigrants started to complain about the dangerous working conditions and low pay, all the farmers and businesses banded together and got most of them deported. The farmers and businesses were already working on getting replacements from Haiti and Ethiopia. Fast forward a few years and the new immigrants started to complain about the poor working conditions and pay. Rinse and repeat. They tried finding another exploitable population to import but couldn't find any none white and Christian people. Apparently, black and Muslim was just a step too far.

Most of the small farms and businesses were bought out by large corporations or went belly up and now these old people are fucking bitter. They march around the town with their Trump flags and hats complaining about how immigrants destroyed our town and harassing any immigrant that decide/were able to stay. I'm not even joking. These people aren't mad that immigrants are here, they are mad immigrants want to be treated like human beings.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 10 hours ago

First among his reasons, he said, was an “invasion” of immigrants at the border. He called it a “ticking time bomb.”

What happens when the bomb goes off? Do the people stop arriving? Does the country flip a switch and everything is okay again? Will the sky fade to black and rocks turn to water as the world that we know is thrust into a nightmare chasm of endless suffering?

Or do other people just start living and working here? Rightwing thinking is just cowardice in a suit.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (2 children)

I don't see much of a connection between the two stories: one man is a politician falling in line with Trump's policy against illegal immigration and the other man was a legal immigrant who died after working for too long in very hot weather. The article does briefly mention that the politician is also against increasing legal requirements for protecting workers exposed to heat, but the article devotes almost no attention to this. (Apparently already-existing legal requirements for protection were not being followed.)

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 hours ago

Roth actively supports legislation that makes it more difficult for undocumented workers to provide labor for agricultural business in his district (though he is not affected personally because of his contacts). He also opposes legislation that would make their work safer.

Garcia's story illustrates the direct and devastating impact of the policies Roth supports.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 hours ago

The specific issue with heat protection is that some counties were trying to pass legislation to provide better heat protection, and the state government preempted that effort by passing legislation banning counties from making heat protection legislation.