There is growing pressure from Miami-Dade County residents being placed on the county commission to not support county Mayor Carlos Giminez’s support of President Trump’s executive order to detain undocumented immigrants on federal orders or risk losing federal financial grants.
Some 100 protestors turned up at county hall on Tuesday during a commission meeting to protest Giminez actions which has been criticized “as a rush to judgement” and encourage the commissioners to vote against the mayor. During the protest the protestors repeatedly chanted, “Gimenez shame on you, you are an immigrant too.”
The commission did not take up the matter of the mayor’s response to the executive order, but deferred the matter to a special meeting set for February 17 to review his actions.
Two commissioner, Xavier Suarez, and Levine Cava. Have previously publicly opposed the mayor’s response to President Trump.
There is pressure also being placed on the commission to rescind his order to county law enforcement to comply with the presidential executive order, from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). On Monday, the union submitted a 10-page letter to county commissioners seeking that they do not support Giminez. In the letter the ACLU assumed Giminez was misled into making the hasty response to the executive order. The letter stated in part, “Although Mayor Gimenez and others may have been misled to believe otherwise, Miami-Dade does not risk the loss of any federal funding…..Regrettably, the mayor appears to have been duped.”
The presidential executive order targeted cities and counties that provide sanctuary to undocumented immigrants, earning the name “sanctuary cities.” Last year the Obama administration categorized Miami-Dade County as a Sanctuary City the county’s law enforcement officials did not detain undocumented immigrants unless they were charged for a serious criminal felony. However, as the mayor has attested, Miami-Dade was never officially categorized as a sanctuary city.
Over the past days since Giminez has drawn a rush of criticisms for his actions, he has repeatedly sought to justify his decision. He said he agreed with the order as he cannot risk the county being denied, according to him, “$350 million of federal funding, and possibly hundreds of millions, if not billions, in terms of transit money that’s totally discretionary that’s at risk. I don’t think that’s something, we want to do.”
For Mayor Giminez’s order to law enforcement to be binding, he needs the county commissioners to approve it.
The ACLU is one of the largest organizations seeking county commissioners to overturn the mayor’s decision. It has embarked on a mission seeking county residents to call their respective commissioners to vote against the decision.
