Latest news with #FloridaImmigrantCoalition
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
‘Lives torn apart': Miami activists decry Supreme Court ruling on migrant protections
Reacting to the Trump administration's aggressive push to deport hundreds of thousands of migrants, a coalition of Miami-based activist organizations declared Monday that the campaign to expel their 'neighbors, coworkers, and even lovers' demands a response free of diplomatic restraint. 'I've realized that while we try to be politically correct, lives are being torn apart,' said Tessa Petit, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition. 'We've become a quota. Because they can't meet their deportation targets, they're fabricating charges — illegally— just to satisfy an inhumane drive rooted in racism, xenophobia and white supremacy.' Petit spoke during a press conference at the headquarters of the Family Action Network Movement, where activists condemned Friday's Supreme Court decision to dismantle the so-called CHNV humanitarian parole program, for the initials of the nationalities affected. The program had allowed hundreds of thousands of people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to legally enter the United States for two years. The ruling threatens the legal status of more than half a million migrants — many of them now settled in South Florida. Petit and others stressed that protecting migrants serves the national interest, calling on the U.S.-born children of earlier immigrant generations to stand in solidarity. 'To the American people, I say this: It's us now, but your turn will come,' Petit warned. 'If you don't look, speak, or act a certain way, your turn will come. You are allowing precedents that will change your world forever.' Linda Julien, the first Haitian-American elected to the Miami Gardens City Council, denounced what she called the hypocrisy at the heart of U.S. immigration policy. 'We are a nation that sings liberty but whispers restrictions. A nation that demands labor but blocks legal pathways,' she said. 'Enough with the contradictions. Let this moment reflect not just compassion, but consistency.' Haitians are the largest group affected by the CHNV program, with approximately 211,010 beneficiaries by the end of 2024. Initially excluded, Haitians were later included by the Biden administration in response to the country's collapse into violent instability. The goal was twofold: provide humanitarian relief and avert a mass migration crisis in South Florida. Speaking on behalf of the 117,330 Venezuelans also facing deportation in the CHNV ruling, Adelys Ferro, executive director of the Venezuelan American Caucus, stressed that this is not an abstract policy dispute. 'This is about families. About dignity. About human beings who followed the rules and are now being punished for it,' she said. Ferro pointed out that more than 530,000 CHNV recipients complied with a rigorous vetting process — undergoing background checks and securing U.S.-based sponsors who committed to financially supporting them. For many Venezuelans fleeing the Nicolás Maduro regime—marked by violence, persecution and economic collapse—CHNV was a critical lifeline. 'It was the bridge that reunited parents with children, siblings torn apart by years of trauma, and survivors of authoritarian regimes who finally had a chance to rebuild in safety,' Ferro said. The Supreme Court's ruling, she warned, jeopardizes even those who did everything right. 'This isn't about illegal entries or breaking the law,' she said. 'It targets people who entered legally, passed background checks and were federally approved.' For Ana Sofia Pelaez, the fight for Cuban freedom is deeply personal — woven through generations. It's her grandparents arriving in Miami in the 1960s, her parents' sacrifices, her community's struggle. Today, it's also about over a hundred thousand Cubans facing potential detention and deportation following a ruling that sent shockwaves through immigrant communities nationwide. 'To force Cubans who have applied and received parole to return now would be a moral failure,' said Pelaez, co-founder and executive director of the Miami Freedom Project. 'The island is under a repressive dictatorship, where dissent is punished with imprisonment, torture and exile.' The ruling is viewed by many in the Cuban-American community as a profound betrayal. Cuba remains gripped by crisis after the historic July 11, 2021, protests—the largest anti-government demonstrations in decades—were met with brutal crackdowns, mass arrests and long prison terms. Cuba continues to suffer widespread shortages of food and medicine, a collapsing economy and unrelenting state surveillance. 'The government silences opposition through harassment and brutality,' Pelaez said. 'And economic desperation pushes people to the brink. This is not a place to which anyone should be forcibly returned.'
Miami Herald
3 days ago
- Politics
- Miami Herald
‘Lives torn apart': Miami activists decry Supreme Court ruling on migrant protections
Reacting to the Trump administration's aggressive push to deport hundreds of thousands of migrants, a coalition of Miami-based activist organizations declared Monday that the campaign to expel their 'neighbors, coworkers, and even lovers' demands a response free of diplomatic restraint. 'I've realized that while we try to be politically correct, lives are being torn apart,' said Tessa Petit, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition. 'We've become a quota. Because they can't meet their deportation targets, they're fabricating charges — illegally— just to satisfy an inhumane drive rooted in racism, xenophobia and white supremacy.' Petit spoke during a press conference at the headquarters of the Family Action Network Movement, where activists condemned Friday's Supreme Court decision to dismantle the so-called CHNV humanitarian parole program, for the initials of the nationalities affected. The program had allowed hundreds of thousands of people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to legally enter the United States for two years. The ruling threatens the legal status of more than half a million migrants — many of them now settled in South Florida. Petit and others stressed that protecting migrants serves the national interest, calling on the U.S.-born children of earlier immigrant generations to stand in solidarity. 'To the American people, I say this: It's us now, but your turn will come,' Petit warned. 'If you don't look, speak, or act a certain way, your turn will come. You are allowing precedents that will change your world forever.' Linda Julien, the first Haitian-American elected to the Miami Gardens City Council, denounced what she called the hypocrisy at the heart of U.S. immigration policy. 'We are a nation that sings liberty but whispers restrictions. A nation that demands labor but blocks legal pathways,' she said. 'Enough with the contradictions. Let this moment reflect not just compassion, but consistency.' Haitians are the largest group affected by the CHNV program, with approximately 211,010 beneficiaries by the end of 2024. Initially excluded, Haitians were later included by the Biden administration in response to the country's collapse into violent instability. The goal was twofold: provide humanitarian relief and avert a mass migration crisis in South Florida. Speaking on behalf of the 117,330 Venezuelans also facing deportation in the CHNV ruling, Adelys Ferro, executive director of the Venezuelan American Caucus, stressed that this is not an abstract policy dispute. 'This is about families. About dignity. About human beings who followed the rules and are now being punished for it,' she said. Ferro pointed out that more than 530,000 CHNV recipients complied with a rigorous vetting process — undergoing background checks and securing U.S.-based sponsors who committed to financially supporting them. For many Venezuelans fleeing the Nicolás Maduro regime—marked by violence, persecution and economic collapse—CHNV was a critical lifeline. 'It was the bridge that reunited parents with children, siblings torn apart by years of trauma, and survivors of authoritarian regimes who finally had a chance to rebuild in safety,' Ferro said. The Supreme Court's ruling, she warned, jeopardizes even those who did everything right. 'This isn't about illegal entries or breaking the law,' she said. 'It targets people who entered legally, passed background checks and were federally approved.' For Ana Sofia Pelaez, the fight for Cuban freedom is deeply personal — woven through generations. It's her grandparents arriving in Miami in the 1960s, her parents' sacrifices, her community's struggle. Today, it's also about over a hundred thousand Cubans facing potential detention and deportation following a ruling that sent shockwaves through immigrant communities nationwide. 'To force Cubans who have applied and received parole to return now would be a moral failure,' said Pelaez, co-founder and executive director of the Miami Freedom Project. 'The island is under a repressive dictatorship, where dissent is punished with imprisonment, torture and exile.' The ruling is viewed by many in the Cuban-American community as a profound betrayal. Cuba remains gripped by crisis after the historic July 11, 2021, protests—the largest anti-government demonstrations in decades—were met with brutal crackdowns, mass arrests and long prison terms. Cuba continues to suffer widespread shortages of food and medicine, a collapsing economy and unrelenting state surveillance. 'The government silences opposition through harassment and brutality,' Pelaez said. 'And economic desperation pushes people to the brink. This is not a place to which anyone should be forcibly returned.'
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Immigration foes claim Attorney General Uthmeier is in contempt of court
Opponents of a new law that targets undocumented immigrants who enter Florida argued Thursday that state Attorney General James Uthmeier should be held in contempt of court because of a letter he sent to police after a judge blocked the law. Lawyers for the opponents, who are challenging the law in federal court, argued in a 26-page filing that Uthmeier's conduct surrounding an April 23 letter was 'quintessential contempt of court.' They accused Uthmeier of signaling to police officers that they could make arrests under the law after U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams had issued a temporary restraining order to block enforcement. 'It is simply not acceptable that, notwithstanding this court's order and his ethical duties, the attorney general encouraged arrests that he fully understood were specifically prohibited,' the lawyers for the Florida Immigrant Coalition, the Farmworker Association of Florida and two individual plaintiffs wrote. The plaintiffs filed a lawsuit April 2 in Miami challenging the constitutionality of the law, which the Legislature passed during a February special session. The law created state crimes for undocumented immigrants who enter or re-enter Florida. Williams on April 4 issued a temporary restraining order to block enforcement of the law and extended the restraining order on April 18. Ultimately, she issued a longer-lasting preliminary injunction on April 29, saying the law was likely unconstitutional. In the April 29 ruling, Williams also ordered Uthmeier to 'show cause' why he should not be held in contempt or sanctioned because of an April 23 letter he sent. She cited arrests that continued after the temporary restraining order and quoted from Uthmeier's letter, which she said included an effort to 'counsel law enforcement' that they were not restrained from enforcing the law. Uthmeier's lawyers, in a May 12 response, said he complied with the temporary restraining order by not enforcing the law (SB 4-C) and notifying law-enforcement agencies about the temporary restraining order. It said Uthmeier was free to express his disagreement with Williams' decision in the letter. 'The attorney general has consistently abided by the court's order to cease enforcing (the law),' Uthmeier's lawyers wrote. 'Nowhere does the TRO (expressly or impliedly) require the attorney general to refrain from sharing his views about the order with law enforcement.' But in the filing Thursday, lawyers for the plaintiffs said Uthmeier went beyond expressing his views about the temporary restraining order. They said the April 23 letter came after an April 18 notice that Uthmeier sent to police indicating the temporary restraining order prevented them from enforcing the law. Williams had ordered the April 18 notice. 'Considered objectively and in the context of the earlier (April 18) letter, the attorney general's second letter plainly undermined the notice he was directed to provide, and invited arrests which he knew would be violations of this court's order,' the plaintiffs' lawyers argued. 'That is quintessential contempt of court.' In ordering Uthmeier to show cause about why he should not be held in contempt, Williams wrote that Uthmeier sent the April 18 letter notifying law-enforcement agencies to refrain from enforcing the law but then sent the April 23 letter 'reversing his prior directive.' 'It said, 'I cannot prevent you from enforcing (the law), where there remains no judicial order that properly restrains you from doing so,'' Williams wrote. 'Aside from the clear misstatement that there is 'no judicial order' that restrains law enforcement from arresting individuals pursuant to S.B. 4-C, AG Uthmeier's assessment that the order does not 'properly' restrain them demonstrates his active effort to counsel law enforcement.' But in the May 12 response to the show cause order, Uthmeier's lawyers said Williams' reading of the April 23 letter 'relies on one portion of one sentence, rather than reading (the) letter as a whole and in the context of what preceded it: the April 18 letter' and a legal brief that also was filed April 23. 'In the April 23 letter, the attorney general expressly reiterated the court's conclusion that the TRO 'bound' the letter's recipients,' Uthmeier's lawyers wrote. 'He explained — as he had in the April 18 letter — that he believed the court's conclusion as to permissible scope of the TRO was 'wrong,' and he noted that the April 18 letter had promised his 'office would be arguing as much in short order.'' The plaintiffs have alleged the law violates what is known as the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution because immigration enforcement is a federal responsibility. In issuing the April 29 preliminary injunction, Williams said the law likely was preempted by federal immigration authority. Uthmeier's office has appealed the preliminary injunction to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In addition to disputing that the law is preempted by federal immigration authority, Uthmeier has contended that law-enforcement officers are not defendants in the lawsuit — which was filed against Uthmeier and local state attorneys — and, as result, should not be bound by orders about enforcement. Williams has scheduled a hearing next Thursday on the contempt issue. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
Miami Herald
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Activists supporting immigrants' rights are celebrating this act by Ron DeSantis
Florida residents seeking legal counsel on their immigration cases — including undocumented immigrants the federal government wants to deport — will soon have more state-level protections against common scams that target them. And they have Gov. Ron DeSantis to thank for it. On Thursday, DeSantis signed a bill aimed at curbing so-called 'notario fraud,' a common phenomenon in South Florida where notaries public charge hefty fees to give legal advice to immigrants they are not authorized to provide. Immigrants often go to notaries public for help because in Latin America, notarios are often practicing attorneys. Some immigrants who work with them lose a lot of money or end up with paperwork mistakes that are difficult to fix. In the worst cases, a mishandled case can lead to detention and deportation. Now, notaries public without law licenses that offer services to immigrants will have to visibly state at their businesses and on their websites: 'I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY LICENSED TO PRACTICE LAW AND MAY NOT GIVE LEGAL ADVICE OR ACCEPT FEES FOR LEGAL ADVICE. I AM NOT ACCREDITED TO REPRESENT YOU IN IMMIGRATION MATTERS.' The new law also states that notaries public may not use terms like 'immigration assistant' and 'immigration specialist' that convey they have 'professional legal skills in immigration law' in their advertisements promoting their services. The legislation also creates a civil cause of action so immigrants who are scammed by notarios can sue for damages and attorney fees. READ MORE: Florida's mass-deportation and immigration-enforcement blueprint, explained A recently released blueprint shows how Florida wants to use tens of thousands of law enforcement officials to support the Trump administration's mass-deportation plans. Many of the people that the state plans to target are the same undocumented immigrants who will benefit from the recently-signed legislation against notario fraud. 'We're not pretending this is a game-changer for immigrants in Florida. But it's a step in the right direction,' said Thomas Kennedy, policy consultant at the Florida Immigrant Coalition. An alliance of immigration advocacy groups, led by the Florida Immigrant Coalition, worked with legislators in Tallahassee to secure the protections against notario-fraud. Kennedy told the Herald that people are more desperate than ever to fix their immigration paperwork given the mass-deportation agenda at the state and federal level. 'Obviously that problem is getting worse because people are getting kicked off their TPS status, people are losing parole, people are getting their asylum claims denied,' he said. 'They are more desperate to adjust their status and more vulnerable than ever to being preyed upon.' Democratic Reps. Johanna Lopez and Marie Paul Woodson sponsored the bill in the House, while Sen. Tina Polsky brought it to the Senate. The law was framed as anti-fraud, consumer-protection legislation. The Senate unanimously voted for the bill. It passed in the House with only Rep. Kiyan Michael voting against it. The Jacksonville Republican has positioned herself as a staunch opponent of illegal immigration. She has publicly told the story about how her son was killed by a crash caused when a twice-deported man rammed into his car. For years, faith and rights groups in Florida have pushed laws in Tallahassee to protect undocumented and vulnerable immigrants. Among them is the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, which has consistently supported efforts to create protections against notario fraud. Michael Sheedy, its executive director, said that the Legislature and DeSantis should receive 'a lot of credit' for putting the safeguards against notaries public scams into law. 'Immigrants, people trying to work within the system will be better protected from fraud. This is a good thing for everybody,' said Sheedy.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
An immigrant advocacy group is celebrating this bill DeSantis signed to curb legal services scams
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed on May 22, 2025, a proposal prohibiting notaries public from advertising as immigration legal services. (Photo illustration by Getty Images) Amid ongoing raids in Florida immigrant communities, Gov. Ron DeSantis' signed a bill Thursday creating an avenue for relief against people unlawfully providing immigration legal services. HB 915, one of 17 bills DeSantis signed Thursday, prohibits notaries public from advertising their services using language that implies they possess professional legal skills in immigration law. Notaries public are authorized to serve as witnesses and verify signatures on documents such as powers of attorney, deeds, and estates. Thomas Kennedy, a policy analyst with Florida Immigrant Coalition, said in a phone interview that the group sought help from lawmakers in addressing the problem of notaries public providing immigration legal services, which he described as an epidemic in Central and South Florida. He called the signing of the new law good news. 'This is happening all over the place. People are very, very desperate for some sort of solution or adjustment of status that leaves them vulnerable for people that are preying on them,' Kennedy said, pointing to the hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in Florida at risk of deportation after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling earlier this week allowing the Trump administration to strip the immigrants of temporary protections and work permits. A series of special sessions at the beginning of the year yielded hundreds of millions for local law enforcement to engage in immigration enforcement, plus new laws heightening penalties for immigrants living in the country without authorization. However, during the regular legislative session, lawmakers didn't pass other proposals cracking down on legal aid for immigrant children and companies hiring people unauthorized to work in the country. But nearly all lawmakers agreed to pass the bill from Orlando Democratic Rep. Johanna López, allowing people to recover damages in civil lawsuits from notaries public providing representation in immigration law matters. Further, notaries public won't be able to refer to themselves as 'notario público,' the term in Spanish, because in some Latin American countries 'notarios' can file legal documents, give legal advice, and represent people in court, according to the final legislative analysis of the bill. Still, Kennedy said passing a pro-immigrant law in this climate was no easy feat. 'I guess common sense prevailed in this matter,' he said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
