What A Day - Like A Day Without Sunshine

Episode Date: June 20, 2023

SB 1718, Florida’s controversial new immigration law, is set to go into effect in less than two weeks. The law limits social services for undocumented people in the state, makes it harder for businesses to hire them, and earmarks millions to fund DeSantis' relocation of migrants to other states. Paula Muñoz with the Florida Immigrant Coalition tells us just how harmful this measure will be once it goes into effect.And in headlines: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, a deep-sea submersible carrying five people to survey the wreckage of the Titanic went missing in the North Atlantic, and Amazon delivery drivers and dispatchers walked off the job in Palmdale, California.Show Notes:Florida Immigrant Coalition – https://floridaimmigrant.org/What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastCrooked Coffee is officially here. Our first blend, What A Morning, is available in medium and dark roasts. Wake up with your own bag at crooked.com/coffeeFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It's Tuesday, June 20th. I'm Josie Duffy Rice. And I'm Trayvill Anderson, and this is What A Day, where we salute Gayle King's sacrifice to give Tony Ducopal the day off on Juneteenth. Yeah, I mean, nothing embodies the spirit of Juneteenth more than giving your white co-hosts a day off, you know? What happens when you don't have white co-hosts? I don't make the rolls. I don't make the rolls. On today's show, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken

met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, plus Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's podcast deal with Spotify has ended early. But first, in less than two weeks, life will become even more difficult for undocumented people living in Florida. That's because SB 1718, which was signed by Governor Ron DeSantis last month, will take effect on July 1st. We told you a little bit about how a similar law passed in California nearly 30 years ago on our episode from June 13th.

If you haven't heard it already, make sure you check it out. Yeah, it really gives some context to what's happening now in Florida. episode from June 13th. If you haven't heard it already, make sure you check it out. Yeah, it really gives some context to what's happening now in Florida. By looking back at the 90s, we had a great conversation with Gustavo Arellano from the LA Times, so definitely give it a listen. Yes. And so today we're taking some time to look ahead at how this legislation will impact undocumented Floridians and the repercussions it will have for the entire state. And just as a refresher, the law limits a lot of social services for undocumented people, it makes it harder for businesses to hire them,

and even earmarks millions of dollars to fund DeSantis' Little Pet Project to relocate migrants to other states, also known as state-sponsored kidnapping, and we all know how well that is going. Yeah, it's going great. I've only heard phenomenal things personally. Yep. 10 out of 10, no notes. No, it's going terribly. That's sarcasm. Right, right. That's the reality. Just to be clear. Right. It's quite bad. And to make matters worse, Florida Republicans who passed SB 1718 framed it as a response to what they see as the Biden administration's alleged failures over immigration policy and border security. Some of them even worked up the nerve to say the quiet part out loud.

One GOP state representative, Rick Roth, told NPR earlier this month it was straight up designed to, quote, scare migrants. They don't even realize how messed up that is a thing to say out loud. I guess it's not to their constituents. Right. So to get a better sense of how this will play out, we called up Paola Munoz with the Florida Immigrant Coalition. They're a network of grassroots groups working to advance immigrant rights across the Sunshine State. One of the first things Paola pointed out is that SB 1718 doesn't just affect undocumented folks. When this bill does come into effect, according to the law, right, the way that it passed is that it would criminalize those who travel with a person who is undocumented into

the state. And so it could give a person a felony punishable up to 15 years, depending on the age of the person that they're with. And so the way that scenario that I put, I always put, right, you're in a mixed status family. I have my abuelita who's undocumented and I am driving up to Georgia to visit my sister. I come back down. Now it is possible that I will face a felony because I'm driving into the state with my abuelita who happens to be undocumented. And so this is a huge problem. It essentially kind of traps people in the state in a sense, right? Because it puts people that may drive with them into the state, it makes them liable. And so it's just something that doesn't make sense at all.

Forces hospital and emergency departments that accept Medicaid to collect patients' information. However, something that folks should know is that it won't impact how you are able to receive care. So you can decline to answer that question yourself. Even as a citizen, you can decline to answer that question in hospitals. And so that is something that we are advocating for because people still should have a right to seek care. And we haven't even heard on how it's going to be implemented. So that is also like a big question mark around and that folks are feeling very anxious around July 1st. Absolutely. We've already seen some pushback to this law, as you mentioned. Can you walk us through a little bit of the work that you and your organization are

doing in protest of the law? This bill was huge. It has so many different points to it. And so a big part of it is fighting misinformation that is being passed around. There's a lot of fear mongering happening. There's also a lot of people that are taking advantage with fraud, right? So we're doing a lot of education around folks being careful.

We're also working, again, with workers. A lot of workers are coming out angry. And also there's been boycotts, there's been strikes. So we're supporting our worker-led organizations like We Count, Farm Workers Association of Florida, and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. They've been doing incredible work organizing the workers around, you know, just getting information and also feeling empowered to take action. I also wanted to note something that recently there was a Senator Roth that came, they did this panel, this faith leader panel, where he got quoted that this bill was completely

a political tactic, that they never meant to enforce the law. The law was meant to create fear and have people leave. And then he followed up with, by the way, tell your congregations to come back to work. It's okay to come back to work. So the audacity of these politicians that voted for this bill just shows that they are playing with people's lives. And so a lot of the work that we're also doing is around accountability and making sure that we know that there's specific faces and specific people that made this decision for our state and that it's not representative of us. And so a lot of the work that we're doing is also around accountability. Definitely. Now, you mentioned that and we've already seen some accounts of people opting to leave Florida altogether in response to this law. Could you talk about how viable of an option that actually is for people?

Because it doesn't, to me, it doesn't seem like everyone will be able to just, you know, pack up and leave. No, and that's a big problem. It's again, like people can't always afford to leave, right? And even the people that, for example, we have seasonal workers that will leave seasonally, but they call Florida home. So now you're displacing people that, for example, we have seasonal workers that will leave seasonally, but they call Florida home. So now you're displacing people that are absolutely afraid to come back, that they don't have means to go to other states. And also that there is no full security in other states. And so it's just creating already an issue of people that have already been traumatized. Because nobody leaves their home unless it's absolutely like on fire. And

that's something that people don't understand. Migrants, we left because we had to. We love our homes, right? But we had to leave for extraneous circumstances. And so now you're putting folks in another predicament that have called Florida home, that have been there for years, that have not only contributed, but are part of the Florida society, right? And now you're forcing them to have to relocate once again because you're making it into a hostile environment. And so it's just heartbreaking. Yeah. I mean, it's basically perpetuating and reproducing the trauma, the harm, the violence that so many immigrants are trying to get away from, right? It's forcing them back into that cycle. You mentioned that, you know, we haven't even really

begun to see the actual impact of what this law will have on Florida. But I'm wondering for you, as you think to those possibilities, what does that lasting impact on the state look like? And what change are you and the immigrant community kind of calling for in this moment? It's a tough question to answer, but I could just see the examples of, for example, Arizona, right? Arizona had a show me your papers bill back in 2010, right? With SB 1070. It had horrible consequences, not only to the people in Arizona, but also to the economy, right? Like we could70, it had horrible consequences, not only to the people in Arizona, but also to the economy, right? Like, we could talk about like the economic impact, but also like the mental health issues on this, right? Like, yeah, the impacts of this in families,

mixed status families. And so the way that we've seen it with Arizona, the way we've seen it in Tennessee, you know, Alabama, it's created horrible consequences. and also it's created change. There are, again, people and faces that are culpable here. And so we've seen the change that comes out with voting those people out. I'm not one to say that voting is going to save us all, but it is important to hold that accountability because these people are making these decisions in our lives. And so I see that change. I see that that wave is coming, especially like not only with the anti-immigrant bills, but all the people that have been impacted in Florida by all these horrible bills that are not focusing on the real issues that Floridians are facing, like

housing. And so instead of addressing the real issues, they're using our people for political gain and it's going to bite them back. That was my conversation with Paola Munoz from the Florida Immigrant Coalition. We'll be sure to keep you posted on any developments on SB 1718 ahead of and after its implementation on July 1st. In the meantime, that's the latest for now. We'll be back after some ads. Let's get to some headlines. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday for the first of a two-day series of diplomatic talks in Beijing. Blinken's visit marks the first time that an American Secretary of State has been to China since 2018.

And as a reminder, this trip was supposed to happen earlier this year. That is, until a Chinese surveillance balloon was spotted over Montana. Remember that? That was weird. Fast forward to now, and by all appearances, the United States and China seem ready to at least try to talk it out. Blinken told NPR on Monday that his meeting with President Xi was meant to stabilize the very tense relationship between the two superpowers. But he definitely has his work cut out for him. When Blinken asked Xi for better communications between the two countries' militaries, Xi declined.

Yikes. Never what you want to hear. This is an ongoing issue for the U.S. which maintains that such contact is necessary so that neither side crosses a red line, especially in light of recent close calls between the U.S. military and Chinese armed forces in the Pacific over the past year. Meanwhile, American officials are hopeful that Blinken's trip could pave the way for President Biden to meet with Xi later this year. It's not really great when they're just like, nah, we don't want to talk to y'all. Yeah, it's not ideal. A search and rescue mission is underway in the North Atlantic after a deep sea submersible carrying five people to survey the wreckage of the

Titanic went missing. The vessel made its descent Sunday morning, but lost contact with its support ship less than two hours into the dive and failed to resurface at its scheduled time. As we sat down to record this show at 9 p.m. Eastern Monday, the U.S. and Canadian Coast Guards have been concentrating their search in a remote area about 900 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where the water can hit depths of up to 13,000 feet. The private company that owns the submersible, OceanGate, offers multi-day trips for very wealthy passengers to see the Titanic up close, with tickets costing as much as $250,000 each.

Just last summer, a separate OceanGate expedition went missing for several hours, though it eventually resurfaced safely with everyone on board. It's not yet clear who was on the missing vessel, though an advisor to OceanGate told the Associated Press that it had a 96-hour supply of oxygen when it went down Sunday morning. Ugh, that's not where you want to be. You know, and this is relevant also because there is a conspiracy theory going around on TikTok that the Titanic did not sink, and it did sink, and I feel that people should

know that. People should know that. It did sink. And I feel that people should know that. People should know that. It did sink. It's called history, children. You think these are going to be small things, and then it ends up being a big thing. So let's get ahead of the next QAnon while we can, shall we? And another unflattering first for Amazon,

a group of 84 of its delivery workers and dispatchers in Southern California walked off the job on Thursday. The workers, who are based in Palmdale, a city north of Los Angeles, unionized with the Teamsters back in April. They're now demanding the online retail giant meet them at the bargaining table. While this is the first time that Amazon drivers have gone on strike in the U.S., the company is already taking issues with who they really work for. According to Amazon's argument,

these drivers are technically contracted through a separate delivery service company called Battle Tested Strategies. Therefore, Amazon insists it doesn't need to bargain with them. The union, of course, is fighting this, pointing to the fact that Amazon controls all operations within the contractor company, not to mention that Amazon delivery workers

have to wear an Amazon uniform and drive a truck or van that says Amazon right there on the side, which pretty much tells me Amazon has some control here. It's also been reported that Amazon keeps its drivers on a short leash. They have to consent to being monitored by AI-powered cameras while on the job and can even be fired for what they post on social media. These claims and others were actually part of a collection of charges the Teamsters filed

with the National Labor Relations Board last month, so you may want to reconsider whether that Prime Day delivery is worth it. Amazon keeps making it very, very hard to just, like, I know. blindly order something that you know you don't need anyway from Amazon. I know, I had to stop because they were going way too far. And it's getting worse. It's getting worse.

And finally, Spotify and Archwell Audio, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's podcast production company, have officially parted ways. The news came less than a year after the debut of Meghan's Archetypes series, the only series that came out of their $20 million deal, which was supposed to be a multi-year collaboration. In a joint statement, both companies described the split as mutual, though neither explained their reasons for pulling the plug. Now, this is where this serving of media tea is about to get piping hot. Take a listen to this clip of Bill Simmons from a recent episode of his own podcast. For some background, Simmons founded the sports and culture media network The Ringer before selling it to Spotify in 2020 and now has an executive leadership role at the company. He's speaking

here to guest host Joe House and let's put it this way, he does not mince words about the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Take a listen. You do a lot of business deals, a lot of negotiations. I do? I wish I had been involved in the Megan and Harry leave Spotify negotiation.

The fucking grifters. That's the podcast we should have launched with them. I got to get drunk one night and tell the story of the Zoom I had with Harry to try to help him with a podcast idea. Do it. It's one of my best stories. Uh-oh. Ooh. I do want to hear that.

There are things I don't understand. You know? Well, this isn't the first time Simmons has gotten salty about the Royals. In a podcast episode last January, he said he was, quote unquote, embarrassed to share the platform with Prince Harry. And even said, quote, shoot this guy to the sun. What's going on here, Josie? It's a lot. Separate from Bill Simmons, which is a whole other, you know, can of worms that I'm not

trying to open. I do want to say that if you get $20 million, you should make more than one interview podcast. That's my two cents. Should you? I think that. I mean, I'm just saying. If somebody wanted to give me 20 mil. That's true.

For one podcast. But that would be different. We're not princes, you know? As much as we'd like to feel that we are princes, we're not. What is the saying that we come from kings and queens? Yeah, yeah. They didn't mean to be England when they said that. And so I don't know how this is related to taxation with our representation,

but it feels a little bit to me. That's all I'm going to say. And those are the headlines. One more thing before we go. Whether you're a lawyer, a law student, or just morbidly interested in the messy legal drama unfolding at the U.S. Supreme Court, strict

scrutiny has you covered. Join constitutional law professors Leah Littman, Kate Shaw, and Melissa Murray for their in-depth analysis of all the cases, controversies, and Melissa Murray for their in-depth analysis of all the cases, controversies, and questionable legal reasoning this term. New episodes drop every Monday along with bonus episodes as the court comes out with even more pivotal decisions later this month. Tune in now wherever you get your podcasts.

That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, scroll away from the TikTok conspiracy theories, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just transcripts of the Bill Simmons podcast like me, well, today is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Trevelle Anderson.

I'm Josie Duffy Rice. And cancel your Prime membership already. I know it's hard. It's time. It's time, though. It's time. It's time though. It's hard. We don't judge you. Yeah. You know. But it's time. But it's time. It's time.

It's time. Well today is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance. Our show's producers, Itsy Quintanilla, Raven Yamamoto, and Natalie Bettendorf are our associate producers. Our intern is Ryan Cochran, and our senior producer is Lito Martinez. Our theme music is by Colin Gillyard and Kashaka.