In 2024, Paola Freets were allowed in the US, settling in Florida, which was prepared by warm temperatures, a large Latin community and ease of finding employment and housing.
He was one of the hundreds of thousands of migrants, who had come to the state in recent years, because the immigration under the former President had increased. Joe Biden,
According to the internal government data received by the Associated Press, no state has more affected by the increase in immigrants compared to Florida. There were 1,271 migrants in Florida who came to every 100,000 residents from May 2023 to January 2025, followed by New York, California, Texas and Illinois.
The data of US Customs and Border Protection, which should verify everyone’s address, which is allowed to stay to enter the US and pursue the immigration case, show Miami For each 100,000 residents, 2,191 was the most affected metropolitan area in the US with new migrants. Orlando Every 100,000 residents are ranked 10th with 1,499 new migrants. Tampa finished 17th, and Fort Myers ranked 30th.
Freights and her husband who fled from violence Columbia Along with his three children, Orlando moved to an agricultural city of Apopka, where immigrants could find cheaper housing compared to Miami as they spread to a community that already had a large population of Mexican and Pureto Rickon. Her sister -in -law had a mobile house which she could rent.
“He advised us to come to Orlando because Spanish is spoken here and the weather is good,” said 37 -year -old Fights. “We felt well and welcomed.”
Migration changed after Kovid -19 epidemic
CBP data captured the American destinations described for 2.5 million migrants who crossed the border, including the frayes that used an app to make an appointment for admission now. Data covered the period when the Biden administration ends the Covid-19 sanctions on Sharan for the President Donald Trump Started his second term and declared a national emergency on the border.
The CBP issued millions of people in the US in the US during the President’s post to pursue cases in the US immigration court, raising the immigrant population at a high level of all time as many people made their way to the US by walking through the columbia and Panama border through a frequent darienne gap. This year, the border petrol released only seven migrants from February till July, as Trump suspended the refuge system and thrown the army in a central role in preventing illegal border crossings.
Fights said she was tortured in Colombia and her father and her father and an 8 -month -old child were killed. The family requested the shelter, and she and her husband obtained work permits.
He is now a housekeeper at a hotel in Orlando, a tourist destination with more than a dozen theme parks, including the Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and Civild. Her husband works in a plant nursery.
“We came here in search of freedom, to work. We do not like to give anything for free,” said that the AP asked him that AP identified him with his name and the second last name for fear of safety of his mother in Colombia, which has tolerated more than half of the struggle. “We are good people.”
She, her husband and her three children live in the mobile house of 16, 13 and 7-two-bedrooms. Children go to school and attend a Catholic church that provides mass in Spanish, the only language she speaks.
Orlando absorbed new migrants who came
Historically, the immigrant population of Central Florida was primarily from Mexico and Central America, with a handful of Venezuela professionals and business owners Socialist Hugo Chavez became President in 1999. In 2022, in 2022, the arrival of more Venezuela began, which was encouraged by a program created by the Biden administration that offered them a temporary legal route. The same program was extended months later to HiTians and Cubans, and their appearance was seen rapidly in mid -Florida. The state also has a large column population.
Many immigrants came to Florida as they had friends and relatives.
In Orlando, they settled throughout the region, not only a few neighborhoods. Trade for catering for new arrival in shopping areas with Mexican and Puerto Rickon shops. Venezuela’s restaurants sell Empanadus and Arepus, which was opened in the same plaza as a Mexican supermarket that offers tacos and anchilladus. The churches started offering more mass in Spanish and Craol, which is called Hitian.
As the population increased, apartments, shopping centers, offices and warehouses replaced many orange trees and forests, once surrounded Orlando.
The economy increased when more people arrived
The new immigrants worked in the growing construction industry, as well as in agriculture, transportation, utilities and manufacturing. Many work in restaurants and hotels and as taxi drivers. Some started their own businesses.
“This is like a very vibrant community,” Felip Sosa-Lazbalelet, Executive Director of the Hope Community Center, said, a group that provides free services to the immigrant community in Central Florida. “It likes,” I am going to work hard and I am going to fight for my American dream, “That feeling.”
According to an American Immigration Council analysis of annual surveys by the Census Bureau, the contribution of immigrants for all goods and services produced in the state – increased from 24.3% in 2019 to 25.5% in 2023. The number of immigrants in the workforce increased from 2.8 million to 3.1 million, or 26.5% to 27.4%. The data includes immigrants in the US legal and illegally.
Ludi Campo, director of the Hispanic Federation in Florida, said, “Immigration has improved the region, more diverse.” “Immigrants have brought an amazing economic power and great workforce in the region.”
Immigrants searched for advice
Groups that help immigrants also increased in size.
“We received hundreds of calls in a week,” said Gisel Martinez, a legal director of Orlando Center for Justice, said. “So many people of the people say that ‘I have come now, I don’t know anyone, I have no money yet, I have no job yet. Can you help me?”
The Center formed a program to welcome him. It grew by serving 40 people in 2022 in 2023 269 in 2023 and 524 in 2024, in 2024, Melissa Ma heintas, Executive Director, said.
In 2023, the Hispanic Federation began a program to teach doctors, nurses and engineers of South America and Haiti how to prepare and dress for a job interview and how to answer questions in English. He also expanded his free English language program and offered another to the parents to help the parents navigate the school system. In 2021, around 500 immigrants attended a fair, providing free dentistry, medical and legal services. By 2024, 2,500 were present.
Hope’s Executive Director, Sosa-Lajblets stated that his group increased to 2023 in 2019 and more than 20,000 in 2024.
Hope’s executive director Sosa-Lajblets said, “People were welcomed.” “This was an incredible moment when people were coming, people were settling because they have work permits. They could work.”
Many people are now being detained
After Trump took over, anxiety spread through many immigrant communities. The Republican -led state Florida has worked to help the Trump administration with its immigration crack and implemented laws targeting illegal immigration. This includes measures to ban people living in the US illegally from entering the state, which was stopped by some law enforcement officials implemented after stopping a judge.
In July 2024, a 38 -year -old solo mother from Mexico, who crossed the border with her three children, said she came to the Central Florida as the four nephews who were already living in the area told them that it is a peaceful place where people speak Spanish. Mathematics teachers, who have requested asylum in America, insisted on being recognized by her first name only because she is afraid of exile.
In July 2025, immigration officials asked him to go to his Orlando office before the October Immigration Court hearing. There, he placed an electronic bracelet on his ankle to monitor him.
Because after presenting the work permit request, one of his friends was deported, he did not say for one, he said. Blanca is paid under the table by cleaning and cooking for neighbors. His children ask him not to take him from school or school for this fear that the police will see his electronic bracelet and close him on the road.
“It’s scary,” he said. “Of course this is.”
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Associated Press Writer Elliot Spagat contributed to the report in San Diego.