FLORIDA — People in Central Florida and the Tampa Bay area on Thursday protested CS/SB 1718, which was signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis on May 10. 

Demonstrators took to the streets near Conroy Road in Orlando on Thursday in protest of the new immigration bill that some say will make it harder to find workers. 

What You Need To Know

  • People began to protest a new immigration law across Florida

  • The law in question is also known as CS/SB 1718

  • It will require more employers to verify employees are eligible to work in the U.S.

The measure, which takes effect in July, requires companies in Florida with at least 25 employees to use the E-Verify system to ensure their workers are eligible to work in the United States. Companies that do not comply or who have employees who don't have the proper documentation to be in the United States can face fines or penalties.

More than 100 people demonstrated outside the office of Florida Rep. Carolina Amesty (R-District 45), trumpeting the message that immigrants are not the problem in Florida. They moved across the street after Orlando police officers asked them to relocate.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Tampa Bay-area Hispanics were peacefully protesting the new immigration law.

The Thursday demonstration at Dale Mabry Highway and Columbus Drive in Tampa was called “A Day Without Immigrants.”

A similar peaceful protest took place Thursday afternoon in Plant City. At least one business owner closed shop for the day to stand up to SB 1718.

Many speakers from the Florida Immigration Coalition to the Hope Community Center spoke at the protest in Orlando, saying the law violates the civil liberties of immigrants who are working hard to make Florida a better place.

"The Florida way is one that has opened its doors to refugees for year," a protester said during the event. "For decades, this very county (Orange) sent a kid that came without his parents in the '60s from Cuba to represent our state in the Senate. Let us not forget that immigrants are not the problem. We are the solution."

WATCH: Spectrum News reporters Jeff Rojas, Lizbeth Gutierrez report on Bay area protests

The demonstrators said immigrants will be forced to leave the state when the new law goes into effect, leaving Florida without the workforce it needs.

One protester, Paula Perez, says her parents are undocumented immigrants and she's a dreamer. She said the only crime her parents, and many immigrants ever commit, was crossing the border illegally. 

"Unfortunatley, yes, they committed a first crime breaking the law by crossing the border, but we were just searching a dream," Perez said.

The protesters are a mix of undocumented immigrants and legal residents. 

Many people at the protest did not report to work Thursday to prove their point.

They then planned to canvass the neighborhood, hoping to get the support they need from residents of the area.

The demonstrators were part of an effort statewide and nationwide. 

Businesses are also striking in solidarity with undocumented workers. With just one month away until the new law will take effect, dozens of local businesses in Plant City made known their disapproval of the measure and stood with workers around the state concerned with the new law. 

Among the protesters of the bill is Robert Amberiz, who owns a landscaping company. 

"We're the hardest people working out here, and everybody is going to realize come July 1," he told Spectrum News.

He said that businesses are the true target of the legislation because they will be the ones punished if they fail to comply with the new law. 

WATCH: Spectrum News reporter Sarah Blazonis talks with an attorney about the impacts of the new law.

"It's going to impact my business because, then, honestly I won't have anyone to help me there might be work for me. Even though I'm born here, it doesn't really matter. I don't forget where I come from," he said. 

Florida Rep Anna Eskamani (D-District 42) issued a statement in support of immigrants in Florida.

“As a daughter of immigrants, I stand in complete solidarity with our immigrant community and all of those who are on strike today (Thursday)," Eskamani's statement said. "Immigrants are the backbone of our state economy and are essential to the health and success of our state. From our farmworkers, construction workers, service workers to our doctors, scientists and engineers: immigrants get the job done, and it is disgusting to demonize and target a community for political gain, which is exactly what Gov. Ron DeSantis has done and is doing.”

The office of the governor responded by saying that the "outrage" was based on a false premise. 

"SB 1718 counteracts the effects of illegal immigration on Florida, a problem willfully enabled by the Biden Administration’s refusal to secure our nation’s southern border. The media has been deliberately inaccurate about this distinction between legal and illegal immigration to create this very sort of outrage based on a false premise," DeSantis Press Secretary Jeremy Redfern told Spectrum News. "Any business that exploits this crisis by employing illegal aliens instead of Floridians will be held accountable."