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After weeks of pressure from Hispanics, the Florida Senate is watering down its immigration reform legislation. Original plans called for police to check the legal status of suspicious characters, and for businesses to use the e-verify program to prove their employees were legal. As Whitney Ray tells us, the bill has been weakened but opponents still aren’t satisfied.

For seven weeks and now for seven consecutive session days immigrants and their supporters have been asking lawmakers to stop immigration reform.

A rally in week two of the legislative session brought farm workers to the state capitol. Shortly before Easter, children of immigrant families prayed outside committee rooms.

Tuesday ROTC students marched in front of the State Senate to tell lawmakers the bill could keep them from serving in the US military. 17-year Oscar Guillen dreams of being a Marine. His family brought him here from El Salvador seven years ago.

“My dream is to defend this country even though I was not born here,” said Guillen.

Ralph Wilson is painting signs for the protestors. The message of the day… the bill will hurt tourism.

“What we are trying to do is be adaptive so today the message is more economic,” said Wilson.

Their efforts are beginning to produce fruit as the Hispanic Caucus is now unified against the legislation and the Senate’s bill is being watered down. The legislation began as an Arizona copy cat… where law enforcement officers would be allowed to question suspicious characters about their legal status. It became Arizona-lite where only people under investigation would be questioned. It’s changing again.

State Senator Rene Garcia says concerns over racial profiling are at the center of the changes.

“The issue of racial profiling that could potentially happen has real concern in the caucus and with myself,” said Garcia.

The House still has to vote on the bill but they’ve yet to schedule a debate. The bill, as amended, would now ask law enforcement to make a reasonable effort to verify the legal status of people in police custody. It would also ask Florida’s 24 workforce boards to use e-verify to check the status of jobseekers seeking help at the workforce centers.