The Florida Roundup - Police in Florida take on immigration, Medically Unnecessary, ‘Your Florida’ legislative session week 4 and weekly news briefing

Episode Date: March 28, 2025

This week on The Florida Roundup, we spoke about the growing number of local police departments entering training agreements with ICE. First, we spoke with WGCU’s Elizabeth Andarge (00:44 ) about the city of Fort Myers' vote reversal before hearing from Mayor Kevin Anderson (05:25). Then, we learned more about the ICE 287 (g) agreements from WLRN’s Danny Rivero and Rick Brunson with Central Florida Public Media (CFPM) (06:54). We also highlighted a new series from CFPM that examines how children with complex medical needs are faring after losing Medicaid coverage (20:00). Plus, another look at this week in the Florida Legislature with WUSF’s Douglas Soule (32:45). And later, a roundup of stories from the week including a virtual experience to Venezuela (37:28) and a bird-watching trip in Tampa (44:32).

This is the Florida Roundup by Matthew Petty. Tom is off today. President Trump campaigned on a promise of mass deportation. And one of the ways that's playing out is with agreements between local and state police agencies and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. And the majority of law enforcement agencies to sign written agreements with ICE are in Florida. So what does that mean where you live?

What impact is it having on police, community relations and trust? Call us 305-995-1800. That's 305-995-1800. And weigh in. You can also send an email to radio at thefloridaroundup.org. One city that's been grappling with this is Fort Myers. City councilors first voted no, then yes on an agreement to allow ICE to train police officers to assist with deportations. We as council members were

put in the position of voting on a matter that was not within our legal authority or jurisdiction. The action subjected us public servants to unnecessary grave personal and professional risk. We heard there council member Dala Bonk who initially voted against the agreement then switched her vote to yes. Bonk said she received death threats after the first vote. Here to help explain is Elizabeth Andaji. She's the Culture and Connections reporter with our partner station WGCU in Fort Myers. Elizabeth, thanks so much for being here. First of all, the council was voting on this program called ICE 287G.

Can you explain what it does? Yeah, thank you so much for having me. So essentially what it does is it gives certain police officers rights that right now only ICE has and ICE would be training those specific police officers to carry out specific ICE duties. Right now police officers are not allowed to do that. They have to just wait for ICE agents. So it's supposed to accelerate a process but there's some controversies within that process. What are those controversies?

For example, they are allowed to stop someone and question whether that person is an undocumented immigrant or not. So take us back to last week. What happened in the initial vote? This was Monday last week three of the council members said that they were for it three were against We had one council member who was there via zoom, so she was ineligible to vote It was a deadlock so it failed the Desandis administration Immediately brought the heat to the council. They honed in on the council after the vote. What was the administration saying? They were saying that because it failed, essentially Fort Myers would be considered a sanctuary city, which is illegal in the state of Florida. Florida has no sanctuary cities. And city council was really feeling the heat and they felt like they needed to actually go back to this. So they held

an emergency meeting. It was the first. So they held an emergency meeting. It was the first time Mayor Anderson held an emergency meeting that wasn't about hurricanes. OK, so kind of a big deal for the city. And on Friday, the council does an about face and votes to support ICE 287G, that program. How have council members explained their change of heart? Because they voted

Unanimously in favor of it on Friday a lot of them felt misinformed They weren't fully aware of the implications that this would be a sanctuary city they didn't know that they were breaking rules by voting no and To be fair to the city attorney when he was explaining a sanctuary city, there's really no official legal definition. It's very hard to define it. And even in the Florida laws, it says use your best judgment. And what are the people in Fort Myers saying now? Oh, I was there in person. It was over three hours. People couldn't get in to find a seat. They were waiting outside in the hallways. The majority of them were saying no. Ultimately,

when we were asking them at the end, what do you feel about this? The majority were saying they were disappointed that the city council changed their mind. Some were saying that they understood because these are council people with occupations and they don't want to break the laws, they don't want to lose their jobs. We've been speaking with reporter Elizabeth Ann Dargie from our partner station WGCU in Fort Myers. Elizabeth thank you so much for your insights, appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me. Well I spoke to Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson about the vote and the controversy. Myers voted yes to the agreement initially. Anderson is a retired Fort Myers police officer

with, he told me, 27 years experience in law enforcement. And he described the training as quote, another tool in the toolbox for Fort Myers police. And he said Fort Myers had been assisting immigration and customs enforcement for years. The attorney general did send us a letter saying that we were not in compliance with state law. We didn't necessarily agree with it but we're going to follow the attorney general's opinion and that's what it is, it's an opinion. As we do follow until the courts say otherwise we follow the opinion of the attorney general. Well, I asked Mayor Anderson about the outpouring of opposition. He said only 16 of the 51 people

who spoke at the second meeting were from Fort Myers, and even then only one or two of them spoke in favor of the program. So what does he say to people who are worried about racial profiling and urge the council to vote no? I mean, you can't please everybody. For every person who spoke at that meeting that said they disagree with us doing this, I could probably come up with three, four, maybe even five emails, phone calls, text messages saying, do the right thing, sign the agreement, support the efforts to deport illegal aliens. And what does the mayor think about these death threats leveled at council members?

I made it clear. That type of behaviour is unacceptable. It will not be tolerated. It's being investigated. And if there's enough probable cause for an arrest and a prosecution, we will push for an arrest and a prosecution, we will push for an arrest and a prosecution. Totally unacceptable behavior to threaten public officials for doing their job. That was Fort Myers Mayor Kevin Anderson you heard there.

We want to hear from you as well. What are your thoughts on these agreements being forged with police departments and sheriff's organizations around the state? 305-995-1800. That's 305-995-1800. You can also weigh in at radioatthefloridaroundup.org, send your emails there. Well, Danny Rivero is part of the investigative team with our partner station WLRN in Miami.

He's been reporting on the partnerships between ICE and local police departments. Danny, thanks so much for being with us, appreciate it. Thanks for having me, Matt. And Rick Brunson is with our partner station Central Florida Public Media in Orlando Rick thank you as well good to be with you again Matt indeed well Rick you reported on Orange County's agreement to partner with ICE now this is a kind of a different agreement in some ways it involves corrections officers right so what are the details of that agreement? Yeah correct Matt unlike most of the counties

the 67 counties in Florida the Orange County Sheriff's Office which has already signed a cooperation agreement with ICE does not run the jail in Orange County it's run by the Orange County Commission and its Corrections Department. So as the Orange County Corrections Chief, Luis Quinones, explains it, under this agreement that the commission voted on this week, 17 county jail officers will be trained by ICE to serve as warrant service officers to detain and turn over inmates in the county jail who ICE has identified and accused of being in the country illegally. So these are people with what are called ICE detainers, a request from ICE for corrections officers to notify ICE before they release someone in the jail who is suspected of being in the country illegally and to hold them for 48 hours past their usual time of release

on other charges so that ICE has time to come in and take custody of them. And one thing that popped up in that meeting right that that stat of some 10,000 removal orders countywide for people living in Orange County without legal documentation I mean what else did you learn about the number of people that ICE expects to be targeting? Yeah so when Mayor Demings threw out that number and he said that it could quickly double to 20,000 in the next few weeks that seemed to really stun the other commissioners on the board and here's why I think so even though the Orange County Jail is the fourth largest jail in Florida it does have a limited capacity with just over a thousand beds in its main facility and

as of today as we're talking right now I checked in the jail has just over a thousand beds in its main facility. And as of today, as we're talking right now, I checked and the jail has just over 3,000 inmates. So Chief Quinones says that so far this year the jail has booked 626 inmates who had ICE detainers. If ICE plans to ramp up removals in the county into the thousands, as this number indicates, the jail would quickly fill up to capacity over capacity right and that sort of goes to a little bit of the debate over the merits of this right on the one hand there's people who are against it and I gather

is just a couple of commissioners voted no there's obviously the kind of humanitarian aspect of it but there's also a cost involved right what did you hear on that yeah so it the vote vote was 5-2 for ratification, but even the commissioners that voted reluctantly for it had concerns over the costs, had concerns that inmates' constitutional due process rights could be violated. There was a lot of public comment from residents and activists in the chamber who were against it. There was a lot of public comment from residents and activists in the chamber who were against it But they acknowledged the commissioners acknowledged even the ones that voted for it that the county was being put in a really tough

Position and facing a hard choice mayor Demings warned The commissioners that the county could lose state and federal funding if it didn't go along with the agreement and that would hurt citizens In the county who rely on its services and under Florida's new immigration law passed last month, local officials who don't cooperate could possibly be removed by the governor. Right and we've heard some of that. That kind of jolted some of them. One commissioner, Kelly Simrad, really stressed the cost. It cost about $145 a day to house an inmate in the Orange County Jail. ICE has pledged to reimburse the county eighty eight dollars of that

but that still leaves a difference of fifty seven bucks that the county would be on the hook on on the hook for. So the state has said you can apply to us for that reimbursement but she was rather dubious that the county would not be on the hook for that reimbursement but she was rather dubious that the county would not be on the hook for that money. Yeah for sure. Speaking with Rick Brunson with Central Florida Public Media about the county's decision to partner with or the agreement they signed to partner with ICE to help with deportations for people who

are here in this country without paperwork you can call in as well 305-995-1700 305-1800 I should say 305-995-1800 send us an email to radio at the florida roundup.org want to bring Brian into the show Brian calling in from Orlando what's on your mind? Hey how are you what's on my mind is commissioners voting for something because they are being coerced to, in my opinion, and the fact that that will make all of our cities and towns unsafe because it's going to have a chilling effect on the immigrant community and when crimes happen, they're not going to want to come forward to say anything. And that's going to be bad for all of us. Yeah, Brian, can I ask you, do you know folks who are here

and don't have documentation? Like are you hearing from people directly? Well, yes, I do know folks that are here, they're legal, but they're having their legal status removed. They came in legally, now they're having their legal status removed and they are afraid, right?

Rightfully so, but speaking from what's happened in history, that's what usually happens when you do that to people. People are going to be afraid to come forward. They're going to have, you know, cops asking them, hey, are you legal or illegal? And they're going to be in trouble if they are illegal. So why would they come forward to report a crime? And the fact that committees and commissioners are being forced to do this by law is incredible.

Right, Brian, thank you so much for weighing and appreciate you sharing your thoughts there. Danny Rivera, I want to get you in on this conversation. So you've been kind of looking at this across the state of Florida and also across the country what about that notion that this is going to make communities less safe and the idea that folks who did come into this country legally are now kind of either having their that that status revoked or

Being afraid that they that may happen to them, right? I'm you know to Brian's point there are many people who came in legally and they are very rapidly having their status changed by the administration so that they would be here unlawfully when they're currently here lawfully. So he is right on that. The law, if we call it a law, is changing. And then to the other point, it's important to recognize that it's not the first time we see this. After 9-11, the federal government instituted

very similar policies, the same name, the 287-G agreement task force model. Back then, it was in pursuit of terrorists. Florida was heavily involved in that back in the day. And there was a lot of studies done that, to Brian's point, he is right, people called the police less. There was less community involvement

because a lot of people are in mixed status families. So even if someone themselves wasn't here unlawfully, someone in their household might be so people were calling the police less Maricopa County in Arizona was kind of case in point of this the police started doing many immigration raids and Violent crime in particular soared because people stopped calling the police in those years Right. So the issue of trust there.

I want to hear from Mark now calling in from Fort Myers. I believe Mark, you're on the air. Yes, hi. I'm calling with a question and a concern more. So to my understanding, you know, being here illegally or having come through the country legally and Then being sort of targeted for you know being here potentially past that date Is it not a civil matter? Is it not considered a civil matter? If you're here illegally and potentially a misdemeanor, how is this considered a crime and how is this even constitutional? Great questions mark appreciate you weighing in there. Danny

what about that? You know the to Mark's question it is a civil matter and being here at the federal level it's a civil matter being here unlawfully is not a criminal offense. Florida did just recently pass a law making it a state level criminal offense to cross the border illegally. You know I actually don't know what that means for people that are already in Florida. They did not cross the border after this became law. But the law and order, the thing about it is you can change the law and the laws are always changing.

Yeah. Rick, just another point that our previous caller made about kind of coercion. I did see a reference to that in the Orange County meeting too. What did they say about that issue? Oh, yeah. Two of the commissioners, Nicole Wilson and Kelly Simrad, both vocalized that they felt like they were being threatened with the loss of their jobs for not complying. Commissioner Wilson, who's an attorney, you know, said an agreement, an agreement is, should not mean coercion.

So they're very much feeling coerced into this, you know, with the loss of potential funding in the county for suspension by the governor, to them and their positions. So there was very much a feeling that they were being coerced into this. And Orange County, according to the mayor, was the last county to sign on. And so he expressed during the meeting that he felt like if they didn't sign, that the state would find some way to make Orange County an example. And that made everybody uncomfortable. Yeah. Let's go to Terry now. now in Melbourne. Terry you're on the air

briefly. Well I just have real issues with the state interfering and trying to dictate to local communities whether they should be sanctuary cities or not and there have been any number of issues in the last couple of years here where you have these people pretending to be conservatives and yet want to dictate policy to local communities. This is absolutely bad and we need to get rid of DeSantis who's been a leader in this respect. Terry, thanks for weighing in. I appreciate that. Danny, what about that? Just kind of this idea of local control being seeded. We've got about a minute to go yet. You know, I've heard a lot of the same criticism.

And you know, one thing I do want to point out here is the attorney general pointing to cities and saying, you know, you have to do this. He's citing a twenty nineteen law that was passed and signed before these new task force ice agreements even existed. And it is his opinion and interpretation that that law, the anti-sanctuary city law, requires cities to enter into these agreements. It is his interpretation. It does not say that explicitly. And I just want to point out that by that logic, every city that has not entered into these agreements, which is the vast majority of cities like, you know, Miami, Miami Beach, I'm down here in South Florida. The interpretation is that they're all breaking the law, which is,

which is quite something, you know, and that would to the caller's point, you know, if that, if that flies, then you are really forcing a hand and then you're calling it an agreement. But actually, whether you agree with it or not, you have to sign across the dotted line. Right. And as we're seeing in the case of Fort Myers, it's, you know, they're kind of, until they get called out by the attorney general, they just have to wait and see. We've been speaking with Danny Rivera, part of the investigative team with WLRN in Miami, and Rick Brunson with Central Florida Public Media in Orlando. Thank you so much both for your reporting

and coming on the show. Coming up what happens when children with complex medical needs lose their Medicaid coverage. You're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. This is the Florida Roundup by Matthew Petty. Next week the show goes on the road. Join Tom Hudson at our partner station WJCT in Jacksonville with a live audience. The St. John's County Schools Superintendent will be one of our guests. St. John's County is one of the fastest growing areas in the state. We'll talk about the growing pains for schools and today's environment for public education. And basketball. The Women's Final Four tournament will begin next Friday. We'll be speaking with Donna Arenda.

She's the former president of the WNBA and wants to bring the Women's Professional Basketball League to her home court of Jacksonville. Space is limited, so register now at wjct.org slash events. That's April 4th in Jacksonville. Now, in the last couple of years, thousands of kids have been dropped from Medicaid statewide. It's part of a process called medical redetermination.

Some of those kids have complex medical needs, and when they lose their Medicaid coverage, they get moved on to state-run medical insurance. Here's Erin Booth, mother of Landon Chase, a nine-year-old Orlando resident and cancer survivor. I recently got diagnosed with mild neurocognitive disorder. And basically the only solution to that would be OT, PT, and speech to help him overcome the side effects of it. He will always be behind, but chances are he's going to develop learning disabilities and such, and I really feel like him missing out on his private OT, PT, and speech

has really caused this to show up. I would like to hear from you. If you've got some insights into what it's like to navigate medical insurance or Medicaid, and you've got kids with complex medical needs, you can share your story. Call 305-995-1800 and send us an email radio at the floridaroundup.org. You just heard from Erin Booth, mother of

nine-year-old Landon Chase. She spoke with Joe Mario-Peterson from our partner station Central Florida Public Media. And his reporting is part of a four-part series of stories called Medically Unnecessary. Here's a little more of what Booth shared with Jo Mario. I'm like, I've lived in Florida my whole life. My mom's from Florida. I mean, my great-grandmother's from Florida. We're all from Florida. We never dreamed that this would be happening to us. I never dreamed, I always thought Florida was good

for taking care of the people, but I guess not. Well, Jo Mario, welcome to the Florida Roundup. What stood out for you about Erin's story? Hey, Matt. I think what really stands out to me about Erin's story and her son Landon is it's kind of this perfect example of how the state in its rush for the Medicaid redetermination process let down a lot of families. The beginning of that Medicaid redetermination,

the state announced that families who had complex medical cases, that they would have a full year to worry about what they were going to do for insurance if they saw their coverage terminated. But in the case of the Booths, they found that their coverage was terminated mistakenly right in the beginning of redetermination. And from there, it really just kind of set the pace for what became one headache and one financial

tragedy just after the next for the Booth family as they ultimately, they were able to save their Medicaid for about a year after it was mistakenly taken away. But then ultimately it was taken away after redetermination was over and they've been struggling to get the care that Landon has needed post cancer treatment. Yeah. Do you have a sense, Chair Mario, of how many of the thousands of children who've gotten removed from Medicaid in Florida since 2023 are in this category of needing a lot of care, but their family's just kind of being in that gap in coverage, right? Not being in a position to cover the high cost of it. Right. Yeah, Matt, that's actually a really hard question to answer. So we have we have a vague idea of what that

shape could possibly be. So like of kids who lost Medicaid coverage through the redetermination process, we know that over 500,000 kids lost Medicaid between 2023 and 2024. But as far as those who have complex medical cases, we're really not sure what that number looks like. You know, asking the state about how many kids are using its state-assisted insurance, Florida Healthy Kids, how many of those children have complex medical needs, the state's really not willing to share that information. And as far as the amount of children that lost Medicaid coverage and then went to different insurance options, we don't know what that number looks like at all.

We just know that 500,000 lost Medicaid. The state didn't track what happened to these kids, whether they went to these state-assisted children's insurances, whether they went to the marketplace, whether their parents have employment employer based insurance. It's just not something that they kept in their books. 305-995-1800 is the number to call. We're talking about what happens to kids who have complex medical needs and have been covered by Medicaid and then I moved off Medicaid onto private insurance. Want to hear from you, if you've got some insights

into this or a question for Joe Mario Peterson with Central Florida Public Media. You can call 305-995-1800 or send us an email, radio at the floridaroundup.org. So Joe Mario, why are they losing Medicaid coverage? And what sort of reasons did you hear from the folks that you talked to? I'm glad that you asked this,

because yeah, this is a nice step back to really understand the problem at hand. If we kind of understand how this all began. So people are losing Medicaid because, like we've been saying, there was a process that the state had undergone called Medicaid redetermination. And what that means is after the public health emergency was declared over by the government, states were allowed to begin reassessing Medicaid status for people, their financial status.

During the COVID emergency, there was a continuous health provision in which states could not kick off anyone's, kick off anyone from any Medicaid plans. The idea here being that no one should be without any kind of health insurance during a pandemic, right? So when people were losing their jobs during that process, during the pandemic, they were covered by Medicaid. Well, when the public health emergency ended, states were allowed to reassess people's different financial statuses again to see if they were still eligible for Medicaid.

And Florida began that process in 2023. It moved very quickly, redetermining the process, or redetermining Medicaid status for about 1.4 million people, or excuse me, 5.4 million people and term or excuse me 5.4 million people and terminating coverage for over a million people here in Florida. Like I said earlier, you know, over 500,000 were children.

And that process was very quick. Many critics have issue with how Florida determined many of these decisions. Because we found out that a lot of these decisions, over 50% of those who lost Medicaid coverage, they lost it for what was called a procedural reason, which means that the state couldn't get in touch with families because there was an address change or a missing phone number or some kind of computer glitch had happened along the way. And many of those families actually still qualified for Medicaid but no longer had it because they weren't able to get in touch.

Yeah. Well, let's hear from another of the parents who talked with you, Joe Mario. Here's Brianna Dion, the mother of Kamila. The six-year-old was born with a large amount of medical complexities. Maybe Kamila, actually. I'm not sure, Camilla maybe? Camilla. Anyway, Camilla, yeah Camilla. So the six-year-old was born with a large amount of medical complexities including respiratory and heart issues, autism, and a condition called

Hopoamaglobulinema, I think I might be mispronouncing that. That was great, that was pretty close. Which is characterized by low levels of immunoglobulins, those are antibodies in the blood. Camila's body does not know how to protect itself from viral bacterial or fungal infections. So if she gets the wrong, the wrong strand of something, if she gets a really bad cold, if she gets COVID or anything like that, it could easily become sepsis to her. She could go sepsis because her body doesn't produce the antibodies to properly protect

or prevent these things from happening. And here's how Brianna describes the challenge of caring for her child. Sacrifices just have to, they have to be made in order to keep my kid alive. I mean it sounds, it sounds harsh or extreme to word it that way but that's exactly what it is. And we aren't the only home that's like that. There, I mean, every home is, is. Different and obviously the needs and the things that they need, but. I can, I can confidently say it's like life or death here without insurance.

My kid would never. There is no surviving without what she needs. All right. So a lot of challenges there facing Brianna, clearly. So Joe Murray, I mean, Camila has coverage through a private insurer. What has that experience been like? So she does have coverage through a private insurer but you know to really like clarify that she has coverage through what's considered a managed care operator and that is a private insurer that contracts with the state so she's receiving or was receiving care through the Florida Healthy Kids which was one of those public assisted children health insurers

that I mentioned earlier so they So they're contracted through Simply Healthcare. And it's been rough. Simply has been denying or has denied a lot of the services that Camila requires. You know, as you very bravely pronounced earlier, hypogamaglobulemia is a condition in which, you know, it really leaves Camila susceptible to everything as we heard. And she requires an infusion of antibodies weekly. It's a really costly shot. It is a $15,000 infusion of antibodies, and

that is on a weekly basis. It is not possible for any family really to manage that without insurance and unfortunately, simply had deemed that not medically necessary for reasons that weren't completely understood. Camila's providers fought with insurers repeatedly, trying to express the necessity of this shot. And they were able to get over about a six month period, they were able to get about three months covered. But in those three months that weren't covered, with Camila not having a shot, she can't really go outside. So her mom has to, you know, put her on lockdown, right, and really has to excommunicate her from the outside world in order to protect her. And that includes Brianna,

too. She can't really go out. So as a result of all of that, Brianna ends up losing her job, which ironically ends up putting Camila in a status of being able to qualify for something called Children's Medical Services, which receives similar funding that Medicaid does here in the state of Florida, and is a service that children with complex medical needs are absolutely best this particular insurance in Florida is best suited for these kinds of kids. Wow, what a journey. So we've got about 30 seconds here, Joe Mario, but are lawmakers looking into this? Are they going to do anything about this?

They are. Well, they have, I suppose. They passed an expansion a couple couple years ago, but that expansion for this kind of insurance has not gone into effect because of a legal fight between the state and the federal government. And we're hoping that we might get some closure on that sometime this year. We've been speaking with Joe Mario-Peterson about his series, Medically Unnecessary. Joe Mario, thank you so much for your insights. Really appreciate it.

Thanks for having me, Matt. And you can find that reporting, that series, medically unnecessary, over on CFPublic.org. I'm Matthew Petty. Do stay tuned. You're listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station.

Much more to come. We'll take a look on a bird walk, in fact, coming up in just a few moments. Stay tuned. Each week during the legislative session, we talk about some of the issues that you've told us that matter. It's part of the Your Florida Project connecting you with state government and policies that affect your life in the Sunshine State. Today we're talking about work. How many hours should teens be allowed to work each week and how much should

people be paid? Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment back in 2020 to raise the minimum wage by $1 an hour each year. It's set to top out at $15 an hour by next year, but some lawmakers are pushing for a bill to allow some people like those doing on-the-job training to get paid less than the minimum wage. The House Careers and Workforce Subcommittee, which is controlled by the Republican Party,

voted along party lines 12 to four in favor of House Bill 541 on Tuesday. Here's bill sponsor Ryan Chamberlain, a Republican state representative from Bellevue. An unintended consequence of Florida's constitutional minimum wage is that it cripples an employer's ability to provide unique opportunities for unskilled workers. But Jonathan Fielder, a Tampa electrician and a member of the local International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers at Labour Union, told lawmakers that it's already tough to get by. We play a critical role in the daily functioning of the community, yet many of us cannot afford to live where we work.

Well, state government reporter Douglas Soll joins us now from Tallahassee. So what are the details of this bill? Who does it apply to and how would it actually work? So this legislation applies to those in structured work studies, internships, pre-apprenticeships and similar programs. To get less than minimum wage, those employees would have to sign a waiver or their parent would have to if they were minor. In the House bill, that waiver would be valid for a year.

Okay, so who's supporting it and what are opponents worried about? The legislation is largely getting Republican support and Democratic opposition. Supporters say the bill would allow employers to offer quote, unskilled workers the opportunity to get paid less but receive experience and skills that will lead to a higher paying career down the line. Democrats have some constitutional concerns and worry about the exploitation of workers, especially in this expensive state. Another proposal that's getting some attention is a bill to loosen restrictions on child labor.

Senate Bill 918 would roll back child labor protections for children 16 and older, allowing them to work full-time, including late nights. Here's what Dana from Boynton Beach thinks about loosening child labor laws. Now, she asks that we don't use her last name because of her work. There's a lot of times where I hear students telling me that they're not working for their own pocket to buy a car. They're working because they need to help pay the bills at home. All right, so Douglas, Florida lawmakers already rolled back some child labour protection laws last year.

What else would this new bill do? It slices working hour limitations on 16 and 17 year olds, meaning they could work at night and they could also work for more than 30 hours weekly, school or no school, and more than eight hours a day without a meal break. And this would not only affect 16, 17 year olds, but also those younger 14 and 15 year olds. It cleavers employment restrictions for them as well. That is if they have a high school degree or if they have an exemption from school district

leadership or they're homeschooled or schooled in a virtual program. There is some bipartisan pushback on this. What are you hearing about the bill pro and against and what are the chances of it moving ahead? Supporters say the work hours are something parents and families should be able to decide for themselves. They also talk a lot about the skills and experiences that can be gained through working. Opponents worry about exploitation, just like with the minimum wage issue, actually.

They also worry how this might impact the academics of teens as well as their health and well-being. Now, whether this passes or not, not much is ever completely certain in the Florida Capitol. It's extremely important to point out that House Speaker Daniel Perez has said that he has personal concerns about the legislation. So while the measure has moved some in the Senate, its passage is highly questionable, especially in the House.

And while it has seen more momentum in the Senate, influential GOP Senator Joe Gruters has come out against the measure. So it's certainly an uphill battle from here. All right. Watch this space I guess. Douglas Sol is our state government reporter in Tallahassee. Douglas, thanks for your reporting and insights. Appreciate it. Thank you for having me Matthew. And community engagement reporter Megan Bowman contributes to our coverage of the legislature. You can add your voice to the Your Florida Reporting Project. Visit wsf.org slash your dash Florida. Still to come, take a virtual trip to Venezuela and a real-life bird walk

You're listening to the Florida Roundup on your Florida Public Radio station You're listening to the Florida Roundup I'm Matthew Petty as you heard earlier hour, the impacts of the Trump administration's immigration policies are being felt in communities throughout the state, including for Venezuelans. Natalie LaRoche-Piatri from our partner station WLRN has this story about a 35-minute virtual experience made possible by a travel content creator who takes people to Venezuela by putting on a virtual headset and headphones. Most of those who've attended the exhibit are Venezuelan longing to see the country they've left behind. In the middle of this brewery in Derao, as the aroma of beer lingered and the fermentation tanks hissed, a trip to another part of the world was taking place.

Not literally, but close enough. After taking a seat, people put on headsets to experience Teleport to Venezuela, a 35-minute virtual reality journey through the country, the streets and plazas of major cities, the heart of rural areas, and the breathtaking natural beauties. More than 10,000 people have experienced the exhibit during a national tour that recently made stops in South Florida. A lot of Venezuelans had to leave Venezuela. Many of them can't go back. And I realized that virtual reality may be the closest format that people can feel like they're back home,

even for just a moment, using virtual reality. So then the project just kind of took a turn of its own. Noa Imura created the VR experience. He's 29 and grew up in Japan and the U.S. In 2021, he set out to solo travel through Central and South America. He said he wanted to test his limits and learn about the world and himself. Along the way, people warned him against going to Venezuela.

It was like the one country that nobody had actually been to before, but everyone told you not to go, especially people that were traveling. You know, fellow backpackers were always like, oh, Venezuela is not a country we go to. The U.S. government also warns tourists not to visit. Imura said he had his guard up for the first two weeks. But on a beach in Patanemo, in the state of Carabobo, that changed.

But it was really the kids that I saw in Patanemo, just, like, running around on the beach, jumping in the water, doing somersaults. So it took me until then to really feel like, okay, let me just look at this country the way it is. He planned to stay a month. He ended up staying for six. Imura documented his trip with a 360 camera and uploaded the videos to Instagram, YouTube,

and TikTok. Venezuelans loved the videos and messaged Imura with invitations to their cities and offered lodging. But it wasn't all fun and games. Imura also learned of the hard reality many Venezuelans in the country face. the economic oppression and political unrest that has led nearly 8 million people to flee. A brewery may seem like an odd place for an exhibit like this, but we're in Doral Suela, so it's the perfect place for it. With tostones on the menu and Grammy winning band Ravallana playing on the speakers, the Venezuelan identity in tripping animals brewing is palpable.

We are all Venezuelans so of course we feel highly, you know, identified with Noah's project. It hits close to the heart. That's Icarelo-Riaga, one of the owners of Tripping Animals. He and the other three owners are from Venezuela. We probably all left because of the same circumstances overall. And now that you're out here, there's some people that would love to go back, and they can, either because of political situation or because their economy

doesn't allow it because it's extremely expensive to travel to Venezuela. Candida Gabriel emigrated from Venezuela 17 years ago and hasn't been back in more than 10. Putting on the headset, she was expecting the beautiful landscapes, but the intimate interactions with Venezuelans surprised her. She said it was the people and life and the reality of our country. It was beautiful, she said, and she added, it made me feel really good and made me miss Venezuela.

The last clip shows a man in Petare drinking a polar beer, singing Venezuela by Luis Silva, an anthem of nostalgia. It's hard to reconcile the layered emotional turmoil Venezuelans face. For many, this virtual reality experience is the closest they've been to home in a long time. I'm from Venezuela, and I've been back only once since moving to South Florida 15 years ago. With the headset on, I saw the congested Caracas Highway just as I remember it. I've never been to Canaima National Park, but the hovering fog and the force of the Salto Angel waterfall felt real.

I was teary-eyed when I took the headset off, as I recalled precious memories from my childhood, like trips with my grandparents, and I grieved moments I wish I could have been there for, like their funerals. I'm Matthew Petty and you are listening to the Florida Roundup from your Florida Public Radio station. For Muslims, Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, is the holiest time of the year. And as W. Eller and T. Mina Romero reports, some mosques in South Florida are closed. And the most important thing is that the, is the holiest time of the year. And as W. Eller and Jimena Romero reports, some mosques in South Florida view the month as an opportunity to build bridges between faith groups.

At the same time, each evening during Ramadan, at exactly 7.29pm, Muslims gather at community mosques to break fast. In Miami Gardens at the Islamic Center of Greater Miami, members of different faiths attend the mosque's open house iftar. They share plates of Mediterranean food. Rice, kebab, hummus and bread. You cannot love your neighbor if you don't know who your neighbor is. So being able to talk to each other, know what they believe in, for them to know what we believe in and that we can actually be together in the same place is awesome.

For many Muslims, sharing Ramadan across faith lines runs in the family, like Deemar Samra, who is a daughter of the mosque's Imam, or prayer leader. My dad was a part of these conversations and we used to go and meet with Christian families and Jewish families and eat together. Seeing this type of event happen regularly every single Ramadan, it's beautiful. It makes us feel like we're part of the community as well. Before it was like we were outsiders, you know. WLRN's Jimena Romero brought you that story. Ramadan ends this Saturday evening with Eid al-Fitr,

a grand Islamic celebration to break the fast. And finally, are you a bird watcher? If not, you might know one or two or three. From our partner station WUSF, producer and resident bird nerd, Grayson Doctor, takes you on a little bird walk. Picture this. It's three in the afternoon and you on a little bird walk. Picture this. It's three in the afternoon and you're out walking the dog, say a poodle named Winnie,

and you tune out for a second while they're sniffing a bush. Then you pick up on the whistling of a bird nearby, then a low cooing from another one. Suddenly numerous birds are chirping from everywhere. So you pull out your phone and you open up your favorite bird app, and it observes the bird song happening all around you. It's a mockingbird. And a bluejay. And a fish crow?

That's been me ever since I went on a bird walk at Tampa's Lettuce Lake Park. I started bird watching unintentionally in 2019 when I would sit by the pond daily and just watch the duck and geese activity. I may have mentioned this growing passion a few times at work. So the Florida Matters team pushed me out on a bird walk. Today's event is a bird watch walk and we're gonna walk around the park. We're gonna travel down to the boardwalk

and we're gonna see some river birds and who knows what else we'll find. Oh, Zion for a treat. Oh, did you find it? Yes, it's a woodpecker. Come on here. The branches up there is a squirrel. Look straight up.

But are you seeing something else? Yeah, it's a woodpecker. Is it got a woodpecker? Yeah, oh, he just moved. The branches up there is a squirrel. Look straight up. But are you seeing something else? Yeah, it's a woodpecker. Is it got a woodpecker? Yeah, oh he just moved. But he's like on this tree right here. There he is. Oh, okay, filiated woodpecker right over our heads.

That head is so bright red. He's so beautiful. So can you guys find him? Yeah, very nice. Whoa, that was so cool. I love how they fly. Needless to say, I was very excited to see the Pileated Woodpecker.

For me, a lifer. A lifer is when you see a bird for the first time, almost like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I saw and heard a few that day, including some birds I was already familiar with. It was about 10 of us on the walk. The Tampa Audubon Society hosts a beginner's bird walk every month. This one was led by Ann Paul.

We've got a couple cormorants up in this tree over here. So cormorants and anhingas are physically similar but un- They're huge! Un-reweighted. Yes. Yeah, they're big birds. They're big. They're smaller than an eagle or a goose even.

For most of us in the group, this was our first bird walk, like Denise Bensie, who, like a lot of us, mostly watches birds in her yard. I have feeders out in my backyard. I like to just casually look at them. But this is my first actual bird walk with somebody who's really knowledgeable about birds telling us about all the different species. For others, like Kristen Orr, this walk was

their introduction to a new hobby. I grew up with grandparents who were really interested in them. They even had morning doves in their home as pets so that's always been like an interesting thing for me but never to the point where I'm like oh yeah let me go birdwatching like that's not a thing that I thought to do but I'm glad I did, yeah. Is this something that you would continue doing? Maybe a hobby that you'll pick up? Absolutely, absolutely something that I wanna do

over and over again for sure, yeah. Yeah, cause it's really exciting when you can see, like we saw that woodpecker today. Did you see the woodpecker? Yeah, it's really exciting when you see birds that you don't see all the time. Even sometimes, like I see cardinals all the time, but to see them like this today has been amazing.

Even to hear them, right? And then the things that you don't really notice, it's like, wait a minute, I hear that at home, but never really paying attention or never even putting a name to the sound. For everyone, this was a great experience to see some amazing and talented birds. I'm Grace and Dr. in Tampa. That's our program for today. The

Florida Roundup is produced by WLRN Public Media in Miami and WUSF in Tampa. The show is produced by Bridget O'Brien and Grace and Dr. with assistance from Denise Royal. WLRN's Vice President of Radio is Peter Meertz. The program's technical director is MJ Smith. Engineering help from Doug Peterson, Ernesto J and Jackson Harp. Our theme music is provided by Miami Jazz guitarist Aaron Leibos at AaronLeibos.com. If you missed any of today's show you can download it and pass programs at WLRN.org slash podcasts or find us on the NPR One app. Thank you for calling in and listening.