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Cnn
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Florida has been working for years to suppress employers who hire undocumented immigrants. But that posed a problem for state companies who desperately for workers to make up for low salary and often unwanted.
The Republican Governor of Florida, Ron Desantis, and state legislature have a potential solution: children.
State legislature Tuesday Advanced an invoice This would relax the laws on child labor, allowing children aged 14 to work for night quarters. If the new law is adopted, adolescents could work night jobs on school days. They are currently prevented from working earlier at 6:30 a.m. or more than 11 p.m. by state law.
The bill was adopted Tuesday through the Florida Senate and Tourism Committee with five votes in favor of softened children’s work restrictions and four against them. The bill will go through two other relevant committees before being voted with the full Florida Senate.
Desantis supports the law and expressed Cracking on immigration, Echoing the rhetoric of President Donald Trump. However, economists have warned that this could turn against him, arousing new shortages of inflation and labor.
“Why do we say that we have to import foreigners, even to import them illegally, when you know, adolescents worked in these stations, students should be able to do these kinds of things,” said Desantis last week during a round table with the TSAR border Tom Homan, as Reported for the first time by the Tampa Bay Times.
A Florida law was Signed in 2023 Oblige employers with more than 25 employees to check their immigration status using a federal database known as E-VerriS. Employers who do not comply with the law face fines of $ 1,000 per day until they provide proof that their workers are legal citizens.
“Yes, we had left for these rules, but you were also able to hire other people. And what is wrong when we expect our young people to work part-time now? I mean, that is how it was when I grew up,” DESANTIS also said during the round table.
The state has been working on child labor protections for years. Last year, the Legislative Assembly adopted a law allowing adolescents aged 16 and 17 to work at home to work at any time of the day.
On Tuesday, the legislature led by the Republicans of the State debated the new law, which also includes a certain number of changes, in particular the elimination of working time restrictions from adolescents aged 14 and 15 if they are educated at home and ending the guaranteed meal breaks for the 16 and 17 year olds.
The number of child labor violations in Florida has almost tripled in recent years, according to American Labor Statistics Department.
This story has been updated with additional developments.