Florida is ground zero for President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign as well as his immigration policies, despite our state’s diversity and the damage caused by those policies.

Last week, Trump officially launched his 2020 campaign in Orlando. Trump's speech there contained his usual blend of harsh attacks, questionable claims and outright lies, including saying that Democrats seek to “strip Americans of their constitutional rights while flooding the country with illegal immigrants.”

Trump has long demonized immigrants as being a major source of crime despite research establishing that the opposite is true. He has used dehumanizing language to justify policies that break up families, lock up children and otherwise cruelly treat migrants fleeing poverty and violence in search of a better life.

Before his speech, Trump announced on Twitter that federal immigration agents would start conducting mass arrests this week of people living in the country illegally. If true, the operation would present a particular concern in Florida given our large immigrant population and a new state law that follows the president's approach to immigration.

Earlier this month, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law a measure banning so-called sanctuary cities in Florida — even though no such cities exist here. What the bill would do, however, is to force local law enforcement to do the job of federal immigration authorities at a cost to the resources, safety and well-being of local communities.

Jailing and deporting immigrants who commit nonviolent crimes or otherwise minor infractions risks hurting rather than improving public safety. The approach only serves to discourage immigrants and their friends and neighbors from reporting more serious crimes and cooperating with authorities.

These policies and mass arrests, if they come to pass, will break up families without regard to the consequences for children. Many of the people living in the country illegally have been productive contributors to their communities, in some cases for decades. Deporting them would damage local economies and strain the social services left to care for their kids.

Mass arrests will also cause more overcrowding and worsen conditions at migrant detention centers. Rather than addressing a growing humanitarian crisis at the border, Trump has fixated on diverting billions of dollars to a border wall.

The wall does little to address illegal drugs and contraband that largely comes through ports of entry and refugees seeking asylum through legal channels. Instead of trying to help Central American countries improve conditions that cause migrants to leave, Trump seeks to strip aid from them.

Trump doesn't seem to care if his immigration policies work, as long as they motivate his supporters to vote for him again. More should be expected from DeSantis, who used his outspoken support for Trump to help get elected governor but has taken a more moderate approach while in office.

Florida voters gave Trump a narrow victory here in 2016, helping him earn enough electoral votes to win the presidency. Floridians should reject his hateful rhetoric and policies this time around, showing that our state values its diversity as a strength.