• 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 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:

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TRANSCRIPT

Josie Duffy Rice: It’s Tuesday, June 20th. I’m Josie Duffy Rice. 

Tre’vell Anderson: And I’m Tre’vell Anderson. And this is What A Day where we salute Gayle King’s sacrifice to give Tony Dukoupil the day off on Juneteenth. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Yeah, I mean, nothing embodies the spirit of Juneteenth more than giving your white co-host the day off you know. 

Tre’vell Anderson: What happens when you don’t have white co-hosts? 

Josie Duffy Rice: [sigh] I don’t make the rules. [laughter] I don’t make the rules. [laughter] [music break] 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. 

Tre’vell Anderson: 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. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Yeah, it’s really gives some context to what’s happening now in Florida by looking back at the nineties. We had a great conversation with Gustavo Arellano from the L.A. Times, so definitely give it a listen. 

Tre’vell Anderson: 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’s little pet project to relocate migrants to other states also known as state sponsored kidnapping. And we all know how well that is going. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Yeah, it’s going great. I’ve only heard phenomenal things personally. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Yep. Ten out of ten. No notes. 

Josie Duffy Rice: No, it’s going terribly. That’s sarcasm. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Right. Right. Right. That’s the reality. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Just to be clear. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Right. 

Josie Duffy Rice: It’s quite bad. 

Tre’vell Anderson: 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.” 

Josie Duffy Rice: They don’t even realize how messed up that is a thing to say out loud. I guess it’s not to their constituents. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Right? So to get a better sense of how this will play out, we called up Paula Muñoz 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 Paula pointed out is that SB 1718 doesn’t just affect undocumented folks. 

Paula Muñoz: 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 abuelita, who happens to be undocumented. And so this is a huge problem, 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. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Mm hmm. 

Paula Muñoz: And so it’s just something that doesn’t make sense at all. Forces hospital 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 get or 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, you know, we are advocating for because that 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. 

Tre’vell Anderson: 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? 

Paula Muñoz: 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 you know passed around. There’s a lot of fear mongering happening. Um. There’s also a lot of people that are taking advantage with fraud. Right. So we’re 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 have been strikes. So we’re supporting our worker led organizations like We Count Farmworkers 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 uh 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. 

Tre’vell Anderson: 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 it doesn’t to me, it doesn’t seem like everyone will be able to just, you know, pack up and leave. 

Paula Muñoz: 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 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. Right. Because nobody leaves their home unless it’s absolutely like on fire. And that’s not something that people don’t understand. Migrants, we left because we had to. We love our homes, right. And 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 of you’re making it into a hostile environment. And so it’s just heartbreaking. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Yeah. I mean, it’s basically. Right. 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? 

Paula Muñoz: 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 could talk about like the economic impact, but also like the mental health issues on this. Right like– 

Tre’vell Anderson: Yeah. 

Paula Muñoz: 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 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 the real issues, they’re using our people for political gain and it’s going to bite them back. 

Tre’vell Anderson: That was my conversation with Paula Muñoz from the Florida Immigrant Coalition. Will 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. [music break] [AD BREAK] 

Josie Duffy Rice: Let’s get to some headlines. 

[sung] Headlines. 

Josie Duffy Rice: 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? 

Tre’vell Anderson: Mm hmm. 

Josie Duffy Rice: That was weird. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Mm hmm. 

Josie Duffy Rice: 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 communication between the two countries militaries, Xi declined. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Yikes. 

Josie Duffy Rice: 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. 

Tre’vell Anderson: It’s not really great when they’re just like, nah, we don’t want to talk to y’all. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Yeah, it’s not ideal. 

Tre’vell Anderson: 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 2 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 Ocean Gate offers multiday 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 ocean gate 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 adviser to Ocean Gate told the Associated Press that it had a 96 hour supply of oxygen when it went down Sunday morning. 

Josie Duffy Rice: 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. 

Tre’vell Anderson: People should know that. 

Josie Duffy Rice: It did sink. 

Tre’vell Anderson: It’s called– 

Josie Duffy Rice: You know. 

Tre’vell Anderson: –history children. 

Josie Duffy Rice: You think these are going to be small things, and then it ends up being a big thing. [laughter] So lets get out of the next QAnon while we can shall we? In 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 were 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 issue 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. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Mm hmm. 

Josie Duffy Rice: 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. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Amazon keeps making it very, very hard to just like– 

Josie Duffy Rice: I know. 

Tre’vell Anderson: –blindly order something that, you know, you don’t need anyway from Amazon. 

Josie Duffy Rice: I know I had to stop because they were going way too far. 

Tre’vell Anderson: And it’s getting worse. Oi.

Josie Duffy Rice: It’s getting worse. 

Tre’vell Anderson: And finally, Spotify and Archewell 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 dollar deal, which was supposed to be a multiyear 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. 

[clip of Joe House] You do a lot of business deals, a lot of negotiations. 

[clip of Bill Simmons] I do. 

[clip of Joe House] Lets just pretend–

[clip of Bill Simmons] I wish I had been involved in the Meghan and Harry leave Spotify negotiation. [laughter] The fucking grifters. That’s the podcast we should have launched with them. 

[clip of Joe House] Oh, yeah. 

[clip of Bill Simmons] Um. 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. 

[clip of Joe House] Do it. 

[clip of Bill Simmons] It’s one of my best stories. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Uh oh. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Ooh, [laughter] I do want to hear that. There are things I don’t understand, you know? 

Tre’vell Anderson: 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.” 

Josie Duffy Rice: Ooh. 

Tre’vell Anderson: What’s going on here Josie? 

Josie Duffy Rice: It’s a lot. Separate from Bill Simmons, which is a whole other you know– 

Tre’vell Anderson: Mm hmm. 

Josie Duffy Rice: –can of worms that I’m not trying to open. I do want to say that if you get $20 million dollars, you should make more than one interview podcast. That’s my two cents. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Should you? 

Josie Duffy Rice: I think that–

Tre’vell Anderson: I mean I’m just saying if somebody want to give me 20 mil. 

Josie Duffy Rice: That’s true. 

Tre’vell Anderson: For one podcast. 

Josie Duffy Rice: But that would be different. We’re not princes. [laughter] You know, as much as we’d like to feel that we are princes, we’re not. 

Tre’vell Anderson: What is the saying? That we come from kings and queens Josie. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Yeah. Yeah. They didn’t mean of England [laughter] when they said that. And so I don’t know how this is related to taxation without representation, but it feels related to me. That’s all I’m going to say. 

Tre’vell Anderson: And those are the headlines. 

[AD BREAK] 

Josie Duffy Rice: 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. 

Tre’vell Anderson: And if you’re into reading and not just transcripts of the Bill Simmons podcast like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at Crooked.com/subscribe. I’m Tre’vell Anderson. 

Josie Duffy Rice: I’m Josie Duffy Rice. 

[spoken together] And cancel your prime membership already. 

Josie Duffy Rice: I know it’s hard. 

Tre’vell Anderson: It’s time. 

Josie Duffy Rice: It’s time though. It’s hard. We don’t judge you. But–

Tre’vell Anderson: Yeah. 

Josie Duffy Rice: You know. 

Tre’vell Anderson: But it’s time. [laughing]

Josie Duffy Rice: But it’s time. It’s time. It’s time. [music break]

Tre’vell Anderson: What A Day is a production of Crooked Media. It’s recorded and mixed by Bill Lancz. Our show’s producer is Itxy Quintanilla. Raven Yamamoto and Natalie Bettendorf are our associate producers. Our intern is Ryan Cochran, and our senior producer is Lita Martinez. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. 

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