Florida Was Built By People Who Arrived With Hope
How we treat the people who come here says everything about who we are, and who we intend to be.
David Jolly will fight for immigration reform that secures our borders while treating immigrants with dignity and creating a lawful pathway to legal status and work. He opposes state laws that punish working families and destabilize communities, supports keeping the promise to Dreamers who grew up here, and wants local police to focus on public safety rather than deportation enforcement. Florida's economy depends on immigrant labor in agriculture, construction, and healthcare.
This Is About Neighbors, Not Numbers
Nearly one in four Floridians was born somewhere else, and they are our farmworkers, our nurses, our small business owners, and the family two doors down. When policy treats every immigrant as a threat, it doesn't just target strangers, it fractures the communities and the workforce that hold our state together. We can be a place that keeps its laws and its heart at the same time.
Remember Who We Are
Florida did not become Florida by turning people away. The children of Operation Pedro Pan, the families of the Mariel boatlift, the Haitian, Venezuelan, Colombian, and Cuban communities that made Miami one of the great cities of the hemisphere, they are the proof of what welcome can build. That legacy is not a burden. It is our inheritance, and we should live up to it.
Order That Actually Works
People want a system that is fair, predictable, and secure, and right now they don't have one. Families wait years for a hearing while the courts drown in a backlog no one seems willing to fix. I will fight for real reform that gives border security teeth and gives people a lawful, honest path, because a broken system helps no one and endangers everyone.
Stop Punishing the People Who Feed and Build Florida
Immigrants make up a huge share of the hands in our fields, our construction sites, and our kitchens. Laws written to make headlines have left crops in the ground and projects stalled, and the cost lands on every Floridian at the grocery store and the closing table. We should be growing our economy, not chasing away the workers and the entrepreneurs who power it.
Safety, Told Honestly
Public safety matters, and so does telling the truth about it. When local police are turned into deportation agents, victims and witnesses stop coming forward, and everyone becomes less safe. I will stand with the officers and sheriffs who know that trust, not fear, is what keeps a community whole.
Keep Our Promise to the Dreamers
Tens of thousands of young Floridians were brought here as children and know no other home. They went to our schools, joined our workforce, and built their lives beside ours in good faith. Leaving them in permanent limbo is a failure of nerve and of decency, and it is long past time to give them the certainty they have earned.
A Florida Big Enough for Everyone Who Loves It
We can protect our borders, honor our laws, and still be the state that opens the door, because that is the Florida our own history demands of us.
Frequently asked questions
Q. Does David Jolly support border security?
Yes. Border security and compassionate immigration reform are both achievable when we start from shared values. The focus should be on federal border enforcement, not targeting immigrants who are already settled, working, and contributing to Florida communities.
Q. What about DACA recipients in Florida?
Florida has over 20,000 DACA recipients who were brought here as children, work legally, and pay taxes but face uncertain futures. They deserve a pathway to permanent legal status, which requires federal congressional action.
Q. Why does Florida's economy depend on immigrants?
Nearly one in four Floridians is foreign-born, and immigrants make up over a quarter of the state workforce. They are essential in agriculture, construction, hospitality, and healthcare, and punitive state laws have already left crops unharvested and projects stalled, raising costs for everyone.
Q. What is his position on state immigration enforcement laws?
State laws that mandate E-Verify, criminalize transporting undocumented immigrants, and turn local police into deportation agents hurt Florida's workforce and make communities less safe. These laws cannot substitute for real federal reform and should be opposed.
Q. Will this help Haitian and Venezuelan families in Florida?
Florida has the largest Haitian-American and Venezuelan-American populations in the U.S., and both communities face concerns about deportations and the end of humanitarian programs. Jolly's call for compassionate reform and a pathway to legal status and work is aimed at families who fled crisis but don't have access to the legal pathways Cuban-Americans have.
Q. Why does he reference Miami's history with refugees?
The Mariel boatlift brought 125,000 Cubans to Florida in 1980, and Operation Pedro Pan brought over 14,000 unaccompanied Cuban children in the early 1960s. Miami's prosperity today proves what Florida can build when we welcome immigrants instead of turning them away.
Q. Does he support legal status for undocumented immigrants already here?
Yes. Jolly supports a pathway to legal status and to work, particularly for long-term residents and those with U.S. citizen children. At the state level, his approach is to stop using state law to disrupt working families already contributing to Florida communities.
Q. How does recent immigration enforcement affect Florida communities?
Federal immigration arrests in Florida have surged dramatically, with over a third involving people with no criminal history. When people working and sending their kids to school are suddenly targeted, it disrupts families and communities that were thriving and safe.