Florida Republicans criticize Trump's immigration arrests: ‘Unacceptable and inhumane'
A co-founder of a group for Latinas who support Donald Trump has excoriated the president on some of the immigration-related arrests being carried out by his administration, which she called 'unacceptable and inhumane'.
In a statement posted on X over the weekend, Ileana Garcia wrote, 'This is not what we voted for.'
The post from the Florida state senator asserted that she had supported Trump, her fellow Republican, 'through thick and thin' and understood the need to remove from the US undocumented people who had committed crimes.
But she criticized how federal authorities had arrested people at immigration courts across the country despite 'credible fear of persecution claims' as the Trump White House ramped up his mass deportation campaign after his second presidency began in January.
Referring to Stephen Miller, Trump's homeland security adviser and deputy chief of staff, Garcia said: 'What we are witnessing are arbitrary measures to hunt down people who are complying with their immigration hearings … all driven by a Miller-like desire to satisfy a self-fabricated deportation goal.
'This undermines the sense of fairness and justice that the American people value.'
Garcia's statement expressed solidarity with comments issued Friday by another Florida Republican: US House member Maria Elvira Salazar. In a statement, Salazar had said the Trump administration's policies had exposed thousands to deportation and seemed to disregard for the 'duty to due process that every democracy must guarantee'.
Salazar's statement added that those with pending asylum claims deserved 'to go through the legal process' while urging the Trump administration to keep focused on removing 'every criminal here illegally'.
Garcia alluded to how she represents Salazar's congressional district in Florida's state senate and said her Cuban refugee parents are 'now just as American, if not more so, than Stephen Miller'.
'I am deeply disappointed by these actions,' Garcia's statement said. 'And I will not stand down.'
Garcia's remarks are not the first time she has gotten cross with the Trump administration. She served as a deputy press secretary for the US homeland security department during Trump's first presidency before leaving the post in March 2019, ahead of his defeat in the 2020 election to Joe Biden and her joining the Florida state senate.
During his unsuccessful 2020 run, Trump's campaign launched its own official Hispanic outreach coalition and delivered multiple cease and desist letters threatening legal action against the Latinos for Trump organization who had supported his victorious first presidential run, as ABC News reported at the time.
Sign up to This Week in Trumpland
A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration
after newsletter promotion
The Latinas for Trump organization that Garcia helped establish was affiliated with that group, and she said she was stunned to learn of the cease and desist letters in question.
Garcia accused the Trump administration of having 'refused to embrace surrogates from the Latino community who did the real groundwork, took the bullets, took the insults and lost their jobs' as he ascended to the presidency.
'It's actually quite disappointing,' she said then.
Trump won the Florida vote in each of his three presidential campaigns. His Mar-a-Lago resort is in the state as well.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
32 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
How another Labor immigration blunder has allowed a vile child sex offender to remain in Australia
The Albanese government took too long to scrap the visa of a migrant who performed an indecent act in front of a child, so he can stay in Australia, a court has ruled. The Federal Court decision is the latest in a string of immigration policy blunders to weigh on the party since 2023 - causing ex-Immigration Minister Andrew Giles to be demoted - though it seems it didn't harm Labor's performance at the March election. Federal Court judge Christopher Horan found a decision to deport the man, known as XMBQ, was unlawful because there was an 'unreasonable' delay between the appeals tribunal deciding the man could stay and termination of his visa. The ruling, first reported by The Australian, could set a precedent requiring immigration ministers to make decisions within a particular timeframe. Giles - now replaced by Tony Burke - previously came under fire for being caught off guard by the High Court's ruling in November 2023 that indefinite immigration detention was illegal, resulting in the release of more than a hundred criminals. Later, he was criticised over his Ministerial guideline, known as Direction 99, that stated a migrant's family connections to Australia and how long they have lived here should be considered in potential deportation cases, despite a criminal's rap sheet. Giles moved to cancel dozens of visas after it emerged that violent offenders were using the measure to avoid deportation. In the latest case XMBQ, a Somali man, had convictions for kicking a police officer in the face and performing a sex act in front of a 29-year-old woman and a 13-year-old girl on public transport. Lawyers for XMBQ challenged whether the former Immigration Minister's intervention in his case was legal. Giles cancelled the Somali man's visa on June 8, 2024 after the Administrative Appeals Tribunal decided he should be allowed to stay in April 2021. Justice Horan said the delay between the appeal and Giles's decision was far too long, ruling in the favour of XMBQ. 'If the minister is to exercise the power to set aside the original decision and cancel the visa, the minister must do so within a reasonable time,' the judgment said. 'Otherwise, the connection with the original decision as the object of the power will be lost, and it can no longer be said that the minister is addressing or responding to the state of affairs produced by or resulting from the original decision.' Immigration law specialist Simon Jeans said that although Giles had the power to cancel this visa it 'was a risk' and a 'decision [made] in haste' as he was under pressure to save his job. He suggested it would have been less risky for the Immigration Department to cancel XMBQ's visa rather than the minister intervening. XMBQ was born in Somalia in the 1960s before fleeing to Lebanon in 1993. He arrived in Australia as a refugee in 2004. XMBQ was placed on the sex offenders register for 15 years after pleading guilty to the public exposure charges in June 2017. In December 2017, his visa was cancelled by a delegate of the immigration minister but this was later overturned in the Federal Court. Lawyers for the man claimed Giles's decision to cancel his visa had been impacted by XMBQ being charged with two counts of rape, although he was not convicted. Justice Horan rejected this claim. The Albanese government and Mr Giles suffered a similar blow in January this year when a Bhutan-born man who attacked his wife with a meat cleaver was allowed to remain in Australia by the Federal Court. It ruled Mr Giles had made multiple 'jurisdictional errors' by overturning an appeals decision that the man could remain in Australia, because he did not consider the effect of deportation on his children and his stateless person status.
The Guardian
32 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Labor unions around US demand release of union leader arrested in LA protest
Labor unions around the US are demanding the release of a labor leader arrested and injured during Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) raids on 6 June in Los Angeles. David Huerta, president of SEIU California and SEIU-USWW, was serving as a community observer during an Ice raid in Los Angeles, and was arrested by federal agents over allegations of interfering. He was initially hospitalized and released later on Friday for injuries sustained during the arrest. Videos circulating online show officers shoving Huerta to the ground during the arrest before handcuffing him. He is expected to make an initial court appearance on Monday afternoon. 'What happened to me is not about me; this is about something much bigger. This is about how we as a community stand together and resist the injustice that's happening,' Huerta said in a statement after his release from the hospital. 'Hard-working people, and members of our family and our community, are being treated like criminals. We all collectively have to object to this madness because this is not justice. This is injustice. And we all have to stand on the right side of justice.' He has remained in custody, as labor leaders around the US are calling for his release and an end to the immigration enforcement raids and use of national guard to suppress protests in Los Angeles. California has sued the Trump administration over its decision to federalize the national guard. Huerta, well known among Democrats in California given his long record as a union leader in the state, received support from Governor Gavin Newsom and other Democratic officials across the US, including the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries. 'SEIU refuses to be silent in the face of these horrific attacks on working communities. Standing in solidarity as a movement of working people is not new to us,' said April Verrett, international president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). 'SEIU protects the rights and dignity of hard-working people, and the safety of workers in the workplace. Imagine what it feels like for thousands of workers around the country to be attacked by masked men with weapons, or to bear witness to their co-workers getting dragged away, knowing their kids may not see them again. We demand David Huerta's immediate release and an end to these abusive workplace raids.' The union is leading or participating in rallies in cities across the US on 9 June calling for Huerta's release, for the California national guard to stand down and an end to the Ice raids in Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Denver, Harrisburg, New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Portland, Oregon, Raleigh-Durham, Sacramento, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC, St Paul, Minnesota, as local unions in other cities continue to organize additional rallies and protests. The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, the largest federation of labor unions in the US, has also called for Huerta's release. 'As the Trump administration's mass deportation agenda has unnecessarily targeted our hard-working immigrant brothers and sisters, David was exercising his constitutional rights and conducting legal observation of Ice activity in his community,' Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, said in a statement. 'The labor movement stands with David and we will continue to demand justice for our union brother until he is released.' Lee Saunders, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the largest public employee union in the US, also called for Huerta's release. 'Americans have a constitutional right to free speech. That right was violated when Ice agents violently arrested and injured Huerta as he peacefully observed immigration enforcement activity in his community,' Saunders said. 'Huerta was exercising his legal right to speak out and bear witness. In response, Ice used force, caused harm, and continues to hold him in unjust detention.'
The Guardian
32 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Democratic lawmakers denied entry to detention centers in LA and New York
Democratic members of Congress from California and New York say that they were blocked from entering federal detention facilities over the weekend while seeking to inspect conditions and check on individuals detained during immigration raids and related protests. In Los Angeles, US House members Maxine Waters, Jimmy Gomez and Norma Torres each said that they were denied entry to the Metropolitan Federal Detention Center, outside of which there had been anti-immigration customs enforcement (Ice) protests. Gomez and Torres attempted to visit the facility on Saturday, saying they sought to investigate 'Ice's inhumane detention of immigrant families'. In a video posted outside the building after they were turned away, Gomez said that their positions in Congress gave them the right to conduct oversight of the detention conditions and the welfare of the people detained. Gomez also claimed that officers outside the federal building sprayed an irritant in the air to 'push us back' and 'get us to leave' – and said that most of the people around them were attorneys, members of Congress, journalists and organizers. 'This is really to prevent us from doing our jobs' Gomez said, and Torres called it 'unconscionable'. In the video outside the detention center, Gomez said there were 'only about 20' protesters outside the building. The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a statement to the Guardian that 'at the time lawmakers tried to enter the federal building, more than 1,000 rioters had surrounded the building'. The spokesperson said, in part, that 'the lawmakers were turned away in the interest of their safety and the safety of our law enforcement'. On Sunday, Waters also attempted to enter the federal facility, saying that she wanted to check on David Huerta, the president of the Service Employees International Union California, who was detained while protesting the immigration raids on Friday. A video captured by CNN shows Waters being denied entry as the door was shut in her face. Elsewhere in California, Congress members Gilbert R Cisneros Jr, Judy Chu and Derek Tran reported being blocked from entering Adelanto Ice processing center on Sunday. Cisneros said that they were attempting to 'conduct congressional oversight at the Adelanto Ice facility' but that 'they locked the gate, ignored our calls, and denied us entry'. 'I will continue to press for answers as our community is under attack,' he added. In New York, Congress members Adriano Espaillat and Nydia Velázquez said that they were denied access to a Manhattan detention facility, where they had sought to perform a drop in check to investigate the conditions. 'We are very concerned about what is happening in this building,' Espaillat said after being denied entry. 'We will continue to come back until we are allowed to have access.' The DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to the Guardian that the New York lawmakers 'showed up unannounced and demanded entry while law enforcement operations were being conducted'. 'They were told by Ic that they would be happy to give them a tour with a little more notice, when it would not disrupt ongoing law enforcement activities and sensitive law enforcement items could be put away,' she added. 'We will always prioritize the safety of our officers and operations.'
