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Protesters: Banish Anti-Immigrant Bills

Gerson Galang via Flickr
Credit Gerson Galang via Flickr

More than 100 protesters jammed the Florida Capitol Wednesday to push back against a wave of what they view as anti-immigration legislation.

Francesca Menes, policy coordinator for the Florida Immigrant Coalition, says the group is tracking eight bills and plans to demand an explanation from lawmakers who support them.

“We’re going to be doing a lot of praying and stopping by a lot of the Latino legislators that actually voted for HB-675 which is a law that is made to enforce local governments and local law enforcement to work with immigration," she said.

Lawmakers are also considering a constitutionally questionable measure they say would give Governor Rick Scott sweeping powers to exclude refugees from war-torn areas.

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Jim Ash is a reporter at WFSU-FM. A Miami native, he is an award-winning journalist with more than 20 years of experience, most of it in print. He has been a member of the Florida Capital Press Corps since 1992.