‘We will kill you': Democrats, Republicans at odds over protest warning language
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — More than a dozen protests are planned in Tampa Bay over the weekend following a series of protests in Southern California.
It's just a small fraction of the larger 'No Kings Day' demonstrations expressing their concerns about Trump Administration policies, specifically the way the president handles immigration enforcement.
Florida has also become a state that is known for helping the Trump Administration manage ICE raids and deportations. Republican leaders, political and law enforcement, have issued stern warnings to protestors. Some of those warnings involved giving examples that could end in arrest or other deadly consequences.
Apopka daughter asks for fair chance after parents detained, father deported
Democrats are also giving advice to protestors, like Florida House Minority Leader Rep. Fentrice Driskell, of Hillsborough County.
'Keep your protests peaceful, do not be afraid to exercise your constitutional right, but just mind yourself, be aware of your surroundings,' Driskell said.
Following protests in California and ahead of demonstrations across the state, some Republican officials took a more forceful approach after they said ICE agents and other law enforcement were threatened during protests in California.
Gov. Ron DeSantis appeared on The Rubin Report conservative podcast this week.
'We also have a policy that if you're driving on one of those streets and a mob comes and surrounds your vehicle and threatens you, you have the right to flee for your safety. If you drive off and you hit one of these people, that's their fault for impinging on you,' DeSantis said.
Brevard Sheriff Wayne Ivey issued a warning on Thursday about Florida being an 'anti-riot state' after lawmakers passed the Combating Public Disorder Act in 2021.
'If you throw a brick, a firebomb, or point a gun at one of our deputies, we will be notifying your families where to collect your remains at because we will kill you graveyard dead,' Ivey said.
Driskell responded by saying this type of language is not about safety.
'All of the tough rhetoric is designed to scare people and keep them at home. It's meant to prevent people from exercising their constitutional rights and to distract from Republicans owned failed policies on immigration,' Driskell said.Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier spoke at the same news conference as Ivey. The state's top law enforcement official said voters elected republicans to enforce laws and curb the number of migrants who are undocumented.
'The voters last November made loud and clear that we want to ensure law and order, we want to enforce against illegal immigration,' Uthmeier said.
So far, social justice groups like the ACLU are not aware anyone has been charged under Florida's anti-riot law, which increased penalties for violent protestors and expanded the definition of a riot.
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