BRADENTON, Fla. — Several city, county and state leaders in Manatee County are speaking out against Senate Bill 1718.

The bill is aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration by having certain programs like Medicaid collect data on patients’ immigration status, which is meant to encourage legal pathways to citizenship.

Opponents of the bill, which goes into effect in a couple months, argue it’s a form of racial profiling and is un-American.

Immigration attorneys, members of the local chapter of the NAACP and members of the Democratic party are among the groups that stood outside of the old courthouse in Bradenton Friday morning to voice their opposition to the bill.

They say it makes things more dangerous for more than just immigrants.

It has been a crazy few days for people reaching out to attorney Luis Castro.

"They want to know what’s going on, what’s going to happen?” he said.

He specializes in criminal defense and immigration law, and has seen an influx of people calling his firm and asking questions about the bill. He says it will increase racial profiling for people of color.

“The biggest concern is just the fear that it instills in people you're targeting, not just undocumented immigrants who are unauthorized to work, but you're targeting undocumented immigrants who are authorized to work,” Castro said.

Friday’s groups wanted to make it known that they oppose this legislation.

They think the bill targets certain people without fixing the central problem with the country’s immigration system.

“That’s not what America is. That’s not what it was set to be,” said Luther Wilkins, president of the Manatee County NAACP.

The bill requires businesses with 25 or more employees to use the e-verify system to make sure people are eligible to work there, and it prohibits the state from recognizing out of state licenses for illegal immigrants.

It also requires doctor’s offices that accept Medicaid to collect data on a patient’s citizenship status.

Gov. Ron DeSantis says the bill was signed in an effort to combat what he calls reckless border policies from the federal government and that the state won’t stand idly by in doing its part to protect the country.

The people at Friday’s protest disagree with that notion.

Folks like Castro want people to know there’s a lot of fear and uncertainty about what’s next.

Proponents of the bill say it protects Florida’s resources, communities and families.