Ana Goñi-Lessan
3,670 posts
Ana Goñi-Lessan
@goni_lessan
Senior Reporter for @newsservicefla Past: @USATODAY - Florida, @HoustonChron, @WBUR. @COMatBU, @UF alumna.
- Someone just said a man who had 60 employees at this construction site now only has 5.
- There are thousands here at the Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee for the No Kings protest. It’s peaceful. Calm. There are puppies.
- THREAD: I started reporting on this story more than a month ago, maybe a week after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed SB 1718 on May 10. I heard immigrant workers were leaving the state out of fear of the new law, so @alicia_c_devine and I drove around the Florida Panhandle to ask around
- A woman whose husband is detained in line in the construction site.
00:00 - Replying to @goni_lessanThanks in advance for reading and supporting local journalism.
- Ms. Olean said when she opened at 7 am, the wind blew her doors wide open. She got everything cooked this morning, but since she doesn’t have any power, she’s giving away the food she has to the community. @TDOnline
- Replying to @goni_lessanWe heard of families waiting until their children could do their First Communion and then leaving the week after. Some people who were documented were leaving anyways because of parents, siblings who were undocumented. We learned mixed status homes are common.
- Replying to @goni_lessanWhen it came to speak to businesses, like 95% of business owners, lobbyists who watched SB1718 go through the Legislature refused to speak publicly in fear of retaliation. They were against the law and were losing workers and money. But they wouldn't go on the record.
- Replying to @goni_lessanFirst stop, restaurants and tiendas with money order signs in the windows, where we heard kitchen staff, neighbors and families with young children had already left and moved to other states like North Carolina and Texas.
- Replying to @goni_lessanWe tried to talk to people who were packing to leave, but by the time we got in contact, they had already left. I've reported on sex work, drug use, gangs, and this was one of the hardest stories to find sources who would go on the record.
- Replying to @goni_lessanMany who are leaving have been here for 10-20 years. They own property, their children are citizens, they have businesses. Some just got here. One man has been here a year. He paid $11k, it took him a month to get from Guatemala to the border. He's taking the risk and staying.
- Replying to @goni_lessanAnd @ByDaveBerman with a sidebar on how the law is already affecting the hospitality and construction industries. "It's definitely chaos right now," said Manuel Lievano, chief executive officer of Miami-based MCC USA Global Workforce Solutions.
- Replying to @goni_lessanThe experiences of immigrants, paired with @JKennedyReport and his political reporting and the photos of @alicia_c_devine of the skilled workers who supply sometimes up to 1/3 of the country's tomatoes provide a snapshot of Florida before the immigration law takes effect July 1.
