This op-ed was first published in Tallahassee Democrat.

A free society is one where its people can live their lives and prosper without government intrusion. The notion of a “Free State of Florida” touted by Gov. Ron DeSantis is increasingly ironic, particularly when it comes to the rights and protections of children.

After vulnerable children spent a summer being deprived of federal funding for free meals, which DeSantis rejected, students returned to schools marked by metal detectors, bathroom surveillance, and teacher shortages. In these hostile holding pens that no longer resemble educational havens, faculty lack tools to address racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia—a result of this administration’s declaration that systemically targeted communities deserve no protection, but white fragility and historical ignorance do.

This reality facing the unfree children of Florida is compounded by government intrusion into educators’ academic affairs. Florida has become the epicenter of the new lost cause that seeks to erase and edit Black and LGBTQ+ history through the book ban movement, with more than double the number of challenges and removals than any other state in the nation.

Such disregard for the well-being of our children has most recently escalated in Escambia County, where the School Board attempted to depose a 7-year-old student in a lawsuit over book bans. Escambia County is facing federal lawsuits brought by PEN America, Penguin Random House, authors, and parents, challenging the removal of nearly 200 books from school libraries. These books were not pulled based on educational merit, but rather because a vocal minority, empowered by state leadership, does not like their content. Reducing the breadth of books available in school libraries shrinks the world for students and limits the exploration of ideas and viewpoints.

The Escambia County School Board’s insistence on deposing a 7-year-old child is a tactic designed to discourage students from defending their rights and standing against censorship. In a case in which the harm of censorship can be articulated by other witnesses, including the child’s mother, subjecting a young child to the harshest litigation tactics is not a legal necessity, but rather strategic intimidation.

Witnessing school districts that should prioritize the best interest of children use such tactics, while the governor pushes extreme policies that roll back protections for minors, is demoralizing. These actions collectively make our state “free” only for those who align with and profit from its restrictive ideologies. Meanwhile, children and other vulnerable groups facing more government control and diminished rights are free only to do as they are told.

Rolling back child labor protections exposes minors to exploitation. Introducing chaplains in schools subjects young people to religious coercion. Additionally, erasing contextualized Black history from educational curricula particularly harms Black children, denying them the opportunity to learn about their heritage, the significant contributions of Black Americans to our nation’s evolution, and the structural and systemic racism that continues to deny them the full rights and privileges of citizenship.

For many of Texas’ 3 million border residents, going through federal interior checkpoints – where Border Patrol agents are permitted to screen vehicles for suspected noncitizens and can ask passengers about their citizenship and travel plans – can be an intimidating but predictable part of daily life. But for undocumented or mixed-status families, these checkpoints are literal barriers to their ability to access basic services and to leave the state for essential medical care like abortion. A new report from the ACLU details how these federal checkpoints – and the additional layer of anti-immigrant state policing – create a web of unnecessary, stressful, and dangerous barriers for people living in border communities isolated from abortion care.

The U.S. Border Patrol, an agency within Customs and Border Protection (CBP), operates more than 110 checkpoints and roving patrols within 100 miles of the international border. In Texas alone, there are around 19 interior checkpoints, stationed on the major – and sometimes only – roads in Texas within 100 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border. For undocumented individuals and their relatives trying to make decisions about their reproductive health, checkpoints staffed by armed guards and surveillance equipment are a significant obstacle to accessing medical care denied to them by the state's abortion ban.

In September 2021, Texas’ SB 8 went into effect, drastically limiting access to abortion and allowing private citizens to enforce a ban on abortion as early as six weeks in pregnancy. A year later, in 2022, the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade, activating Texas’ trigger law, which imposed a total abortion ban, and in turn, forced thousands of Texans to leave their state to get this essential care.

In 2023, Texas -- the largest state to ban abortion -- had the most residents traveling out of state for an abortion, mostly to New Mexico the only neighboring state where abortion remains legal for abortion care. Not only are more Texans traveling, but also in many cases, Texans are traveling further than anyone else in the country.

Someone from Brownsville, Texas, which is near the southernmost part of the state, would have to drive at least 12 hours one way, or 870 miles, to the closest abortion clinic in New Mexico. Someone from Laredo would face at least a 10-hour drive.

But residents of south Texas are not only driving farther than anyone in the country for an abortion; in most cases, they must also drive through one or multiple interior federal checkpoints, risking arrest and deportation if they are undocumented.

A resident of Laredo driving to New Mexico, for example, will have to pass through six interior checkpoints in Texas alone, and then more in New Mexico. They can only reduce the number of inspections, but not avoid them all together, by adding several hours to their drive.

Along with federal immigration checkpoints and roving patrols, these Texans and their families also must contend with Texas state police, including troopers with Governor Greg Abbott’s $11.2 billion-dollar anti-immigrant initiative, Operation Lone Star. Almost all counties along the southern Texas border participate in this program, which allows officers to arrest, prosecute, and punish undocumented immigrants under charges like trespassing. A person trying to leave Texas for abortion care may fear being stopped and questioned by state police or immigration agents about their reasons for travel given the hostile and racially discriminatory policing under Operation Lone Star and the close collaboration between border patrol and state police.

All levels of government must address legal and other barriers to abortion so that no one is prevented from accessing critical care under threat of deportation. As detailed in our report, action is needed to:

• Ensure that people can safely reach abortion clinics without CBP checkpoints or other immigration enforcement impeding their travel or exposing people to potential detention and deportation;
• Use prosecutorial discretion to protect a noncitizen from deportation who is arrested at a checkpoint when traveling to access critical medical care. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) must also clarify that it will not consider these arrests or convictions, or the disclosure of having obtained abortion care, as a bar to any form of immigration relief;
• Limit the collection, retention, and use of information obtained by CBP at checkpoints and through its broader surveillance technology;
• Enact federal legislation to ensure that everyone can access abortion care if they need it, no matter who they are, where they live, or how much money they have; and,
• In states where abortion is legal, remove barriers to access based on immigration status.

The ACLU will continue to work to ensure that everyone can access abortion care, no matter who they are, where they live, or how much money they have. And we will continue to fight against abusive border policing and surveillance that interferes with border residents’ ability to travel and get the services they need.