Video Shows Abandoned Florida Construction Site After Anti-Immigration Law

A video showing a construction site in Florida seemingly abandoned by workers following the sweeping anti-immigration bill recently signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis has gone viral.

DeSantis, a Republican who is expected to soon announced his presidential candidacy, signed into law on May 10 a bill that bolsters his migrant relocation program and limits social services for immigrants lacking permanent legal status.

The law, which takes effect on July 1, also expands requirements for businesses with more than 25 employees to use E-Verify, a federal system that determines if employees can legally work in the U.S.

Experts have told Newsweek that the use of the E-verify system could have a significant impact on the labor supply in Florida.

A video shared on TikTok by Gilberto Al Volante purports to show that the law had already made workers scarce on a construction site in Davenport on Tuesday.

Panning across a street where several houses are in the process of being built with no workers in sight, a man can be heard saying: "Today is Tuesday, May the 16th. It is not Sunday… this is a construction site here in Davenport, Florida, 20 miles from Orlando, and this is all you see."

He continued: "It's 9am. Usually at this time there's a lot of people here working, all kinds of contractors doing their job. Roofers, of course, lots of noise and loud Mexican music."

Turning the camera to a sole contractor working at the site, the man adds: "It is happening. It is not fake. It is not a joke. You see one contractor there. This is all thanks to Ron DeSantis."

The video quickly went viral, amassing more than 600,000 views and over 6,000 comments in less than 25 hours.

Some commenters criticized DeSantis and the law.

"FLORIDA will Learn the hard way!!!" one user wrote.

Another said: "There's a massive housing shortage in FL already. US workers don't have the strength, stamina or will to do the arduous work."

However, others expressed support for the law.

One person wrote: "This is awesome. I wish they would apply this law nationwide."

DeSantis on Monday defended the new law when asked about concerns that Florida could have a shortage of workers in fields and construction sites because of it.

"So Florida law is that you have to be here legally, to be able to be employed. That's been the law for forever," he said at a news conference.

"And so when we have something like an E-Verify, that's a tool to make sure that long standing Florida law is enforced. And I think that that's important. You can't build a strong economy based on illegality."

Newsweek has contacted a DeSantis spokesperson for further comment via email.

Another viral video has purported to show empty shelves in a Florida grocery store, after Latin American truckers said they were planning to boycott the state in response to the law. It wasn't clear if a shortage of tuckers was to blame for the empty shelves.

"Given Florida's large immigrant population, the impact of the E-Verify system on the labor supply could be substantial," Hector Sandoval, an assistant professor in economics at the University of Florida, told Newsweek.

Sandoval added the with a shrinking pool of workers, employers "may face additional challenges filling open positions, and will likely have to raise wages to attract legal workers."

Madeline Zavodny, a professor of economics at University of North Florida, said in most states, requiring all employers to use E-Verify "has reduced the number of recently arrived undocumented immigrants."

It also often raises hourly wages for those who remain, Zavodny said.

"So employers are at a double disadvantage, it's harder to find workers and they have to pay more for the ones they can get," she said.