Miami-Dade commissioners ignore public, facts on detainers

The saddest part about Friday’s Miami-Dade Commission meeting wasn’t that commissioners ignored the fearful cries and pleas of more than 100 people who urged them to reject Mayor Carlos Gimenez‘s directive to hold illegal immigrants arrested in Miami-Dade for an additional 48 hours so they can be picked up by federal authorities.

It was pretty sad as speaker after speaker got emotional when they told their own similar story about coming here as a child or of parents or siblings who came here as children fearing persecution by the government or criminals elsewhere. It was a real tear-jerker when they heard from children whose parents have been deported and who can speak about having families ripped apart, even though Chairman Esteban Bovo systematically cut them off when they reached the one minute mark and barked aggressively at them.

But no. What’s even sadder was seeing how stupid some of our commissioners are.

Ladra is not using that word loosely. I know it’s charged. I hate the word. I’ve always told my daughter there are no stupid people, only stupid acts.

But then I saw the commission meeting Friday and there is no other word that would better describe them. Clueless is not strong enough. Dumb is too innocent. They’re happily, blatantly stupid. Either that, or they’re complicit with Gimenez for other reasons and simply don’t care about the consequences of their punitive actions. Because why else would they ignore the facts?

Let’s go one by one more slowly on the facts they chose to ignore and show why their rationalizations are silly, shall we?

Fact one: The county attorney told them that we were already complying with the federal law. The county already shares information with ICE — names, photos, fingerprints, arrest forms – to comply with the Safer Communities regulations. Commissioners read this sentence slowly: We were already complying with the federal law. That means there was no need for Gimenez to make the change within 24 hours of the president’s executive order in defiance of your very own resolution. Obviously, this quickness concerned the commissioners who voted to keep the 2013 resolution: Jean Monestime, Daniella Levine Cava and Xavier Suarez each said that the mayor’s move was at best premature. Why don’t the others question the motivation for that lickety split speed? We were already compying with federal law and had reason to challenge any designation as a sanctuary county.

Fact two: The very definition of sanctuary city or county or region has not been established and several other municipalities are challenging it as well.

Fact three: This order isn’t going to just affect criminals. And, by the way, we were already honoring detainer requests on the worst criminals so Rebeca Sosa saying she didn’t want rapists back on the street was fear mongering at its worst.

Deputy County Attorney Michael Valdes said that detainer requests are issued when ICE has probable cause “that the individual has committed a violation that allows them to commence deportation proceedings.” When Joe Martinez asked, the deputy county attorney said it again. “ICE can issue detainers when they say they have probable cause that this individual is subject to removal proceedings, they’ve violated immigration laws.”

Well, that includes every single illegal immigrant, doesn’t it? Every illegal immigrant, by virtue of being here illegally — having crossed over without documents or overstaying a visa — has commited a violation of immigration law. Let’s repeat that for you slow commissioners: Every illegal immigrant could feasibly have detainers put on them because they violated federal immigration law or laws. Including these moms, photographed left, who told commissioners they worry about who will care for their children.

Martinez said that they someone needs to commit a criminal violation to be arrested. Sure, okay. But, fact four: It can be for a traffic violation or having a driver’s license suspended or something as minor as shoplifting. He also said that the arresting officer doesn’t know the shoplifter is an illegal immigrant, but is he thick or what? Nobody was saying we don’t want the shoplifter to be arrested. We just don’t think the shoplifter should be deported if there is a detainer on her/him. The shoplifter should be processed like any shoplifter and released on bond or on his or her own recognizance. We have already honored a detainer on someone who was arrested for panhandling. Commissioner Martinez, fact five: panhandling now can get you deported.

The few speakers in favor of the change understand this. They want all illegal immigrants deported. That is their end game. They supported Trump because of that. They support this change in policy because it deports everybody.

Gimenez said repeatedly that “law abiding immigrants, legal or illegal, have nothing to fear.” But that’s just not true. He is lying, surprise surprise. Fact six: Law-abiding illegal immigrants — even though they may have abided by every other law — could, logically, have detainer requests issued for them. Certainly, people who have missed hearings have had detainer requests issued. And under this new administration it is quite logical to think that more people will be detained to fill the increasingly privatized federal prisons that get fed our federal dollars, per bed or illegal head, which is what Ladra suspects this is really about.

Let’s provide a real, live example: A Venezuelan single mother who works at a restaurant in Doral could get pulled over for a traffic offense or even a broken tail light. She may have a suspended driver’s license because she overstayed her visa or she has no license at all. She gets arrested for that minor traffic offense. Miami-Dade County Corrections officers send her information — name, fingerprints, photograph — to all the other law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and ICE. Immigration is the one that says “hold that person please.” They don’t have to give us a reason. All they have to do is give us a form that has a box checked that says they have probable cause.

Worse, if she hears the neighbor next door being beaten by her husband, she won’t call the police. “What for? So they ask me for my papers?” Fact seven: It doesn’t matter that Gimenez and several commissioners promised over and over that police officers would not act as ICE agents. What matters is the climate of fear that is created is one where people are not about to take that chance. Perception is all that matters here. Law enforcement experts and more than 40 legal experts who have written the mayor and urged him to rescind his order all agree: This change makes us less safe, not more, as it drives a bigger wedge between the immigrant community and law enforcement. No matter how many times you say that police will not be rounding immigrants up, people are just not comfortable with that staying true.

Plus, there’s the little fact eight: Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez volunteered to be on a committee that would define the role of local law enforcement agencies in the federal pursuit of illegal immigrants. He said so in a Miami Herald story after attending a Washington D.C. conference of police chiefs where Donald Trump spoke.

“You know the illegals. You know them by their first name. You know them by their nicknames,” Trump was quoted as saying at the Major Cities Chiefs Association and Major County Sheriff’s Association conference. “You’re in the neighborhoods: You know the bad ones, you know the good ones. I want you to turn in the bad ones.”

Perez was quoted as saying: “It’s clear that they haven’t established any policies yet. It’s still too soon.” But he added that he volunteered to serve on a committee to help define whatever that federal-local cooperation would look like. It won’t always be “too soon,” after all.

Ladra sure wishes someone would have mentioned that at Friday’s meeting. Because what exactly does that mean? Gimenez and several commissioners said they wouldn’t allow our local cops to start asking us for papers. But what happens if (read: when) the federal government threatens to take federal funding away if our local law enforcement agencies refuse to cooperate in the way they deem fit? Why is Perez playing a role in framing that cooperation?

Here’s fact nine, whichwas lost on Commissioners Jose “Pepe” Diaz and Joe Martinez and Rebeca Sosa — who each pathetically fought for the my-exile-story-is-better-than-your-story prize — while they said over and over again that we were talking about criminals: Our county was already honoring detainer requests on the most dangerous criminals under the 2013 resolution. That resolution still provided for the continued transfer to ICE of anyone charged with a forceable felony — such as homicide, rape, battery, assault, armed robbery — and anyone charged with a non bondable offense, such as murder.

By the way, fact 10: the people charged with murder won’t go to ICE and be deported right away. No. They get tried for their crime here. They do their time here. And only then are they deported afterwards. In other words, there’s time for ICE to get the worst of the worst. This change by Carlos Gimenez only allows people who are arrested for shoplifting or panhandling to be held 48 hours past their bond or release so they can be picked up and deported.

Who is going to take care of their children? Expect the Department of Children and Families to be flooded with a new crop of children who are orphaned by this county commission’s actions.

Commissioners who were too stupid to realize all these things were Bovo, Sosa, Martinez, Diaz — who barely escaped a DUI conviction in Key West last year — Audrey Edmonson, Javier Souto, Dennis Moss, Bruno Barreiro and Sally Heyman, who was the main person to introduce the 2013 resolution that protected immigrants. She said it was the right thing to do then. Friday she said that decision, like this one, had been financially motivated and she sponsored the resolution ratifying the mayor’s change in policy. What changed?

Because they had every reason and political cover to do the right thing. Not only in 100+ people who spoke in favor of returning to the 2013 policy. But also when the county attorney said that we were already complying with federal mandates for the Safer Communities. And again when the deputy county attorney said any illegal immigrant was at risk.

Are they not listening? Maybe they’re not too stupid to understand what they’ve done. Maybe they’re just not listening.

Or do they just not care?

And is any one of those choices better than another?

Carlos Gimenez, Esteban Bovo, immigration

Miami-Dade commissioners ignore public, facts on detainers added by Ladra on February 19, 2017
View all posts by Ladra →