Florida is likely to adopt a slightly dulled-down version of Arizona's controversial immigration laws, and even with significant changes critics still think that the law will lead to racial profiling and requiring even legal citizens and immigrants to carry papers on them at all times. Rep. Luis Garcia (D-Miami Beach) decided to pull a sly protest by wearing his passport prominently while conducting business on the state House floor. Republicans weren't too pleased.
Some Republican legislators were apparently horrified at the site of a common legal document so flagrantly displayed in a place where laws are made. Oh lawdy me, there's nothing more offensive than having to see someone else's passport.
You know how some Republicans are. They don't care what you and your legal documents do in your private time, they just would appreciate it if you kept it to yourselves. No need to rub everyone's face in it. Think of the children!
According to Naked Politics, House Rules Chairman Gary Aubuchon (R-Cape Coral) cited a house rule that bans props and placards from the floor, and asked Garcia to tuck his passport in his pocket after others had complained about it. Apparently passports are props.
"Gary's a nice guy, a real classy act," Garcia tells NP. "He asked me nicely, so I tucked it away. If he was a jerk about it, I would have told him to stick it."
Well, at least he was nice about it, unlike the people who decided to complain about it behind Garcia's back in the first place.
Of course, these same legislators will then turn around and pass a law that basically requires many Floridians to do exactly what Garcia was doing: walking around at all times with identification.
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