Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is blasting the establishment media for claiming that recent migrant crackdowns would hurt the Sunshine State’s economy.
“FL’s best-in-the-nation legislation combatting illegal immigration generated the typical array of false media narratives,” DeSantis wrote on X. “That such narratives blew up shows that good policy pays dividends.”
“The goal needs to be disfavoring illegal immigration rather than … incentivizing more illegal immigration,” he said.
This week the economic data revealed that Florida’s economy grew by 3.2 percent in its gross domestic product from Q1 2024 to Q2 2024 and the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Florida added 133,000 jobs from October of last year to this year, Fox News reported.
On Tuesday, DeSantis contrasted that economic growth with reports by the mainstream media that the state’s move to tighten migrant job rules would end up hurting the state’s economy.
In May, the Florida legislature passed a bill requiring mandatory E-Verify rules on hiring, a ban on local governments issuing IDs to migrants, a rule to suspend business licenses for companies that hire illegal migrants, funding to bus illegals to other states, and a rule requiring hospitals to report the number of illegal aliens they treat.
Many on the left said this package of rules would hurt Florida’s economy by chasing illegals out of the state. But, as DeSantis noted, it does not appear the new requirements had any negative impact at all.
In fact, the changes have been so successful that Forbes proclaimed Florida’s policies as a “blueprint” for Trump to follow nationally.
The magazine noted that left-wing critics claimed the E-Verify rules, and other policies in the new law, would damage Florida’s economy, but went on to say those criticisms have been wrong.
“So far, the critics have been wrong. Florida’s economy has continued to grow despite warnings about the impact of SB1718. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the state’s gross domestic product increased by 9.2% last year, tops in the nation and outpacing the national average by nearly 3 percentage points. In 2024, Florida’s economic growth remains strong, surpassing the national average in the first two quarters of the year, with Florida being one of just a handful of states to post 6% growth or higher in both quarters. This comes despite the Florida Policy Institute warning that the E-Verify requirement alone could cost the state $12.6 billion in its first year,” Forbes wrote in November.
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