ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — After Paola Freight enlisted in the United States in 2024, she and her husband settled in Florida, portrayed by warm temperatures, large Latino communities, and ease of employment and housing.
They have been one of the hundreds of thousands of immigrants who have come to the state in recent years. Immigrants It has skyrocketed under the former president Joe Biden.
There is no more affected condition Increase in immigration More than Florida Internal government data Obtained by Associated Press. Florida had 1,271 immigrants, arriving every 100,000 residents between May 2023 and January 2025, followed by New York, California, Texas and Illinois.
Data from the US Customs and Border Protection Agency must verify the addresses of all people allowed to enter the US and pursue immigration cases, indicating that Miami is the most affected metropolitan area in the US, with 2,191 new immigrants for every 100,000 residents. Orlando ranked 10th with 1,499 new immigrants per 100,000 residents. Tampa was 17th and Fort Myers was 30th.
Fre and her husband who ran away Violence in Colombia With three children, I moved to Apopka, an agricultural city near Orlando. There, immigrants were able to find cheaper housing than Miami, spreading across a large community of Mexicans and Puerto Ricans. Her sister-in-law owned a mobile home that they could rent.
“She advised us to come to Orlando because Spanish is spoken here and the weather is nice,” said Freites, 37. “We felt good and were welcomed.”
Movement has changed after the Covid-19 pandemic
CBP data captured US destinations stated for 2.5 million migrants across borders. One currently deprecated CBP app Make a reservation for entry. Data covered the Biden administration period Ended Covid-19 restrictions About the president’s asylum Donald Trump He began his second term and declared National emergency at the border.
CBP released millions of US people at US borders during the US presidency, pursued cases in US immigration courts, and raised the population of immigrants The best ever Many people were walking towards the US, walking through something that could not appear once. Darien Gap Colombia and Panama border. This year, the Border Patrol released only seven immigrants as Trump from February to July. The asylum system has been stopped and Pushing the military into a central role in Deterring illegal border crossings.
Freight said she was tortured and raped in Colombia, killing her father and 8 month old baby. The family demanded asylum, and she and her husband obtained work permits.
She is currently a hotel housekeeper in Orlando and is a tourist destination with over 12 theme parks including Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and Sea World. Her husband works at a plant nursery.
“We came here looking for freedom and looking for work. We don’t want to be given anything for free,” Freites said. Over half a century of conflict. “We are good people.”
She, her husband and their three children (ages 16, 13 and 7) live in a two-bedroom mobile home. The children attend school and she attends the Catholic Church, which offers Mass in Spanish, the only language she speaks.
Orlando absorbed the new immigrants that came
Historically, the immigrant population in Central Florida came mainly from Mexico and Central America. Hugo Chavez He became president in 1999. In 2022, more Venezuelans began to arrive, and programs created by the Biden administration provided temporary legal routes. That same program was extended to Haitians and Cubans a few months later, making its presence in central Florida more and more prominent. The province also has a large population of Colombia.
Many immigrants came to Florida because they had friends and relatives there.
In Orlando, they settled not only in specific areas but in the entire area. A company that will accommodate new arrivals opening in shopping areas along with stores in Mexico and Puerto Rico. The Venezuelan restaurant selling Empanadas and Arepas opened in the same square as the Mexican supermarket offering tacos and enchiladas. The church began to offer more masses in Spanish and Creole.
As the population grew, apartments, shopping centres, offices and warehouses replaced many of the orange groves and forests that once surrounded Orlando.
As more people arrived, the economy grew
New immigrants have discovered work in the booming construction industry, not just agriculture, transportation, utility and manufacturing. Many work as restaurants, hotels and taxi drivers. Some people have started their own business.
“It’s like a very lively community,” said Felipes Su Saraza Barrett, executive director of the Hope Community Center, a group that provides free services to immigrant communities in central Florida. “It says, ‘I’m going to work hard and fight for my American dreams.’ That spirit. ”
According to an analysis by the U.S. Immigration Council on the Census Bureau’s annual survey, immigrants’ contribution to Florida’s gross domestic product (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 labor force increased from 2.8 million to 3.1 million, from 26.5% to 27.4% of the total population. The numbers include both legal and illegal US immigration.
“Immigration has made the area better and more diverse,” said Raudi Campo, director of Florida’s Hispanic Federation. “Immigration has brought in an incredible economic power and a great workforce to the region.”
Immigrants looked for advice
The size of groups supporting immigration has also increased.
“We got hundreds of calls a week,” said Guisell Martinez, legal director at Orlando Centre for Justice. “A lot of people calling out “I just arrived, I don’t know anyone, I don’t have any money yet, I don’t have any work yet. Can you help me?”
The Center has created a program to welcome them. Executive Director Melissa Marantes said he has grown from 40 in 2022 to 269 in 2023 and 524 in 2024 to 524 in 2024.
In 2023, the Hispanic Federation launched a program that teaches doctors, nurses and engineers in South America and Haiti how to prepare and dress for job interviews and answer questions in English. They also expanded the free English program and offered another program to help parents navigate the school system. In 2021, around 500 immigrants attended a fair offering free dental, medical and legal services. By 2024 there were 2,500 participants.
Hope’s executive director Sousa-Lazaballet said his group served 6,000 people in 2019, bringing it to over 20,000 in 2023 and 2024.
“People were welcomed,” said Susaraza Barrett, executive director of Hope. “It was an incredible moment. When people were coming, people were calm because they had work permits. They were able to work.”
Many people are afraid of being detained
After Trump took office, anxiety spread across many immigrant communities. A Republican-led state, Florida worked to support the Trump administration in repression of immigration and enacted it Laws targeting illegal immigration. That includes measures that ban people living in the United States illegally from entering the state, such as those who have illegally lived in the United States. Executed after the judge I stopped that.
Blanca, a 38-year-old single mother from Mexico who crossed the border with her three children in July 2024, said she came to Central Florida after four nephews who already lived in the area told her it was a peaceful place where people speak Spanish. The mathematics teacher who called for asylum in the United States insisted that she would be identified in her name simply because she was afraid of deportation.
In July 2025, immigration officers told her to go to the Orlando office prior to the October immigration court hearing. There, they placed an electronic bracelet on her ankles to monitor her.
She doesn’t ask for herself because her friend was deported after submitting a request for work permit, she said. Blanca is paid under the table by cleaning and cooking for the neighbors. Her children ask that police not take her to school, looking at her electronic bracelet and fearing that they will stop her and detain her on the street.
“Scary,” she said. “Of course that’s true.”
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San Diego Associated Press Writer Elliot Spagut contributed to this report.
