Carlos Gimenez betrays our community for Donald Trump

Once again, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez is going to be on the wrong side of history.

Thursday’s decision to kowtow to the petulant policies of our new president, Donald Trump, is a new low for Gimenez, who has instructed the corrections department to start detaining illegal immigrants that are arrested on unrelated crimes until federal authorities can pick them up.

This flies in the face of long standing county policy not to enforce federal immigration detention orders that dates to way before it was made official in 2013 with an ordinance that, for whatever legal reasons, states that the county refuses to indefinitely detain inmates wanted by immigration not because it was a “sanctuary city” — or that it was the right thing to do — but simply because the feds don’t reimburse the costs.

But we know that’s not the real reason. Because the cost is about $50,000 a year, according to the Miami Herald. That’s really not the reason. The reason was that we are a community of immigrants. Those of us who are lucky enough to be born here or have come here legally know someone who has not. They work hard cleaning and building our homes, fixing our roofs, taking care of our kids and cooking or serving our meals. Many if not most of them are decent people fleeing hardship, war, poverty and repression, trying to make a better life for themselves here.

Now, because Trump threatened to withhold federal funding — more than $350 million that is used in all kinds of services, from transportation to meals on wheels — the mayor is bending to his will. Just like he did when he almost gave Trump our public golf course on Key Biscayne. Is this a consolation prize?

It’s a cowardly move.

Let me be clear: Ladra is all for comprehensive immigration reform that really works to make us safer. This is not it and does not do that. This net is far too broad and will have the unintentended (we hope) consequences of catching visa overstays who have been in this community working and paying taxes and following the rule of law for decades, who are mothers and fathers and students and caretakers, and puts them in deportation proceedings because they were are caught driving without a drivers license. This will split up decent, hard working families with no criminals in it. And the real criminals who are arrested for bigger crimes and typically get held longer anyway and are already sent to immigration proceedings because they are in the system that long, they will keep coming back because they are criminals and we’ve done nothing to change the porous borders.

Gimenez could have stood firm. He could have defended the immigrants — residents of his very county — instead of just bending over with a smile. He wouldn’t have been alone. The mayors of cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Syracuse and Austin have defied the order. Their legal counsels have told them that the president’s ability to just turn off the federal funding spigot is limited. There’s also a legal question as to what constitutes a sanctuary city. Miami-Dade is a county, after all, made up of 37 municipalities. Did Gimenez, who took a $15,000 contribution from Donald Trump for his campaign and went to the president’s inauguration, even consult the county attorneys or did they just not impart the same advice?

Howard Simon, executive director of the Florida American Civil Liberties Union, included his own legal opinion in a statement he made reacting to Gimenez’s move.

“At least, a court order is required, not simply a request from a federal official to keep someone detained behind bars,” Simon said. “We will resist every attempt by our government to punish immigrants, regardless of their immigration status.

“The decision made today by Mayor Giménez goes against the long history of Miami as a city of immigrants. It also goes against the advice of experts in police administration that these policies, such as Gimenez has just supported, only serve to create a wall of mistrust between the police department and our immigrant community,” Simon said.

So, what? Gimenez doesn’t need this community anymore. He certainly doesn’t need our votes ever again. He just won re-election and is termed out of office after these next four years. What he may need is for Trump to stay nice to his son, CJ Gimenez, a lobbyist who worked for The Donald in Doral and is now banking on those ties to get federal lobbying clients.

The president sure reacted to the mayor’s actions quickly, posting on twitter about it just hours after the announcement. Like someone flagged him to the Miami Herald story. Potus tweeted: “Miami-Dade Mayor drops sanctuary policy. Right decision. Strong!”

A group of immigration rights activists have organized a protest outside Gimenez’s office at 11 a.m. Friday morning. Ladra hopes he’s not playing golf at the Biltmore Hotel. And also that the demonstrators all have their papers because the mayor could call la migra on them.

The Facebook invitation to the “Gimenez SHAME ON YOU!” protest says that Gimenez “has BETRAYED the immigrant community by bowing to Trumps racist, xenophobic, and illegal policies. DEMAND that Mayor Gimenez and ALL elected officials in Miami-Dade County side with all immigrant women, children, and men.”

It also says that those who cannot attend can call 305-375-5071 and tell Gimenez that Miami-Dade needs to continue to be a welcoming place for immigrants.

“I’m disgusted,” said Juan Cuba, chairman of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party. “Miami-Dade County should be a sanctuary county. We should reject Donald Trump’s hateful immigrant rhetoric and policies and make sure our elected officials represent our residents.

“There are hundreds of thousands of families who will wake up tomorrow afraid of what this means for them.”

That’s how many of us felt Nov. 9.

Carlos Gimenez, Donald Trump, immigration

Carlos Gimenez betrays our community for Donald Trump added by Ladra on January 27, 2017
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