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DeSantis immigration law may worsen labor shortages in Florida as planting season begins
September 10, 2023 4:16AM ET
Two farm labor workers tend to crops on Monday, Aug. 21, 2023, in Homestead, Florida. - Alie Skowronski/Miami Herald/TNS
MIAMI — A new state immigration law could worsen labor shortages in South Florida’s agricultural industry, a sector that heavily relies on migrant labor and struggles to find domestic workers, according to growers, immigrant workers and farmworker advocates. María Vázquez, a Mexican nursery worker in Homestead, said that over the last year she has witnessed colleagues and community members leave South Miami-Dade County, a region that grows warm-weather plants, fruits, and vegetables that don’t grow in most of the rest of the country. “Many people here risk their lives crossing the desert to ge...