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Mexico president doesn't want Americans to vote for this candidate: ‘Those who…’
The Florida law, Mexican government said, could cause discrimination against migrants.
Mexico's president requested US citizens not to vote for Florida governor and Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis because of his state's enactment of an immigration bill. The Florida law, Mexican government said, could cause discrimination against migrants. The comments mark president Andrés Manuel López Obrador's second recent break with Mexico's tradition of not talking about the politics of other countries.
In March, he had called Peru's government racist and illegitimate.
“We could not remain silent,” López Obrador said of the Florida law, as per Associated Press, calling for “not one vote for those who despise migrants.”
In a statement, Mexico's foreign relations department said the Florida law “will affect the human rights of thousands of people, Mexican girls and boys, exacerbating hostile situations that could result in hate crimes against the migrant community.”
What is the Florida law at the centre of the controversy?
The Florida law went into effect on July 1. According to it, employers who hire immigrants who are in the US illegally will face tough punishments. Ron DeSantis signed the law last month expanding requirements for businesses with more than 25 staffers to use E-Verify. The federal system determines if employees can legally work in the US or not.
The law also requires hospitals that accept Medicaid to include a citizenship question on forms.
According to Ron DeSantis' website, the new law includes “allocating funds to move migrants without lawful status out of the state; restricting access to ID cards; and requiring more businesses to use an electronic system to validate a person's eligibility to work.”
