Bill McCollum

However, immigrants in Florida are deeply concerned that Republican candidates, including Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, campaigning to succeed Charlie Crist as governor, are supporting the Arizona law. The law exposes immigrants to harassment by law enforcement authorities who can detain them if they are suspected of being undocumented immigrants even if they are legal residents or citizens.

McCollum and Republican candidate, Marco Rubio who is campaigning in the race for the U.S. Senate, have stated that they now support the Arizona law, as amendments have since been made to the law which should outlaw the potential for ethnic and racial profiling by the police.

Some South Florida immigration advocates, fearing that a similar tough immigration bill could be passed by Florida’s Republican administration, believe the amendments are “simply window dressing.”

Miami advocate Carmen Delarue said, “The law is what the law is. Once it states that immigrants can be detained if they cannot provide papers proving they are legal residents, then that immigrant is subject to detention. The fact is that in Arizona, as in Florida, particularly South Florida, it’s brown people, Latinos and Blacks from the Caribbean that comprise the majority of the immigrant population and are likely to be stopped and detained. Like Arizona’s governor said, no one really knows what an illegal immigrant looks like.”

Local political analysts suggest that Republican candidates support for the Arizona law is simply political expedience.

Lester Simms, a Fort Lauderdale political consultant said, “It’s political expediency. Since the law was passed by a Republican, in this election year whether or not Republican candidates support the Draconian law, they are going to support it as a political strategy. Most, if not all the Republican candidates are saying they support the law, while the Democratic candidates oppose it.”

When the law was initially passed, McCollum indicated he didn’t think Florida should enact laws like the Arizona law which was “quite far out.” However, with come-lately Republican Rick Scott entering the Florida governor’s race, and expressing his support for the Arizona law, McCollum changed his stance. Last week he said that recent changes in the law by Arizona leaders addressing concerns that it could be used to carry out racially profiled stops and arrests, led him to change his mind.

With leading state Republican candidates indicating support for the Arizona law, this has further fueled the call from Florida immigration advocates for the Obama administration to seek the tabling of an immigration reform bill in the U.S. Congress.

Delarue said, “It is disconcerting that Florida Republican candidates running for the U.S. Senate and state governor support the Arizona law. Now, we must push ardently for at least a draft immigration bill tabled in Congress before November’s elections.”

Diversity Human Resources consultant Leo Durrant of Miami, thinks it is important that those advocating for immigration reform be cautious. He said, “Immigration reform is a tight rope issue. Everyone needs to be cognizant that this is an election year nationally, not only in Florida, Arizona, California, New Mexico and Nevada, states with large immigrant populations. Incumbents, Republican or Democrats, want to win and they will either use or abuse immigration reform as a tool to be reelected. It’s all politics, with illegal immigrants caught in the middle.”