Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC)

Founded in 1998 and formally incorporated in 2004, the FLIC had grown into a coalition of 83 member organizations and more than 100 “allies” as of 2026, with staff positioned across six Florida counties. By that time, the organization had drawn significant left-of-center philanthropic backing, having received more than $35 million in cumulative grants from funders including the Ford Foundation, the Marguerite Casey Foundation, the NoVo Foundation, and the Tides Foundation. ^{1 2}

The FLIC was among the most prominent organizational opponents of Florida Senate Bill 1718, a sweeping 2023 immigration enforcement law championed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R). In April 2023, the FLIC issued a statewide travel advisory, declaring the entire state as high-risk for immigrant travelers and coordinating with Equality Florida and the NAACP in a campaign to promote travel warnings targeting Florida’s tourism industry. ^{3 4}

Background

The Florida Immigrant Coalition was founded in 1998 as an informal coalition of immigrant-serving organizations and formally incorporated as a nonprofit in 2004, receiving federal tax-exempt recognition in October 2005. It described its early work as coordinating immigrant organizations to amplify advocacy on state immigration policy. ^{1 2}

In 2012, the FLIC launched the Florida New Americans program, which provided free monthly citizenship clinics pairing legal permanent residents with attorneys and processed applications for U.S. citizenship at no cost to participants. The organization positioned the program as both a legal services initiative and a voter registration effort, noting that newly naturalized citizens would be eligible to vote. ⁵

Activities

The Florida Immigrant Coalition organizes its work around legal services, advocacy and lobbying, community organizing, and civic engagement. As of 2026, it operated a free bilingual hotline for immigrants with questions about encounters with law enforcement and immigration agencies. The organization reported that after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) signed a 2019 law requiring local law enforcement to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, calls to the hotline surged from approximately 100 per month in 2018 to roughly 1,000 per month. The FLIC joined a coalition that subsequently challenged SB 168 in federal court; U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom struck down significant portions of the law in September 2019, ruling it was “racially motivated.” ⁶

In 2019, the FLIC signed an open letter to American corporate executives condemning the immigration enforcement practices of the Trump administration and urging American CEOs not to employ anyone involved with the policy. It accused government and law enforcement officials of being directly guilty for physical abuse, sexual assault, and even the deaths of illegal immigrant children. The letter was titled “An Open Letter to America’s CEOs” and was dated April 6th, 2019. ⁷

The FLIC was a leading opponent of Florida Senate Bill 1718, signed by Governor DeSantis on May 10, 2023 and effective July 1, 2023. The law, officially said to be designed to stop human trafficking and decrease the various problems caused by illegal immigration, invalidated driver’s licenses issued to illegal immigrants in other states, criminalized transporting illegal immigrants into Florida, tightened hospital patient immigration-status data-collection requirements, especially for Medicaid use, and strengthened employment verification rules. FLIC helped organize statewide protests and business strikes, and in April 2023, issued a travel advisory declaring every Florida county a “high risk” for potential detainment and family separation, urging immigrants and allies to reconsider travel to the state. The advisory was issued in coordination with Equality Florida and the NAACP.  ^{3 8 4}

Funding

In 2022, the Florida Immigrant Coalition was one of several left-of-center immigration groups to receive funding from the Four Freedoms Fund, a donor collaborative of NEO Philanthropy, a major left-of-center pass-through grantmaking nonprofit. ⁹

As of 2026, FLIC had accumulated more than $35.7 million in cumulative grants from 103 funders, according to Candid. Among the largest recorded grants were a $3 million 2022 BUILD general-support grant from the Ford Foundation for immigrant rights capacity building, a $2 million 2024 gift from MacKenzie Scott, and $500,000 annual general-operating grants from the Marguerite Casey Foundation from 2021 through 2024. Additional funders have included the NoVo Foundation, NEO Philanthropy, and the Tides Foundation.

Leadership

As of 2026, Tessa Petit was executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition. Born and raised in Haiti, Petit moved to the United States in 2001 and worked in social services for the Haitian community and with families experiencing homelessness before joining the FLIC in 2016. She earned a bachelor’s degree in organizational leadership from Barry University. ¹⁰