Forget lunchboxes, backpacks and new sneakers. For thousands of Miami-Dade families, the first day of school comes with a sick feeling in the pit of their stomachs — and it’s not from cafeteria mystery meat.
It’s from the fear that masked, armed ICE agents could storm into the classroom or be waiting for them just outside the school, or that mamá or papá won’t be there to pick them up when the final bell rings.
There is a growing anxiety in Miami-Dade’s immigrant communities, where the 2025-26 school year begins with the regular first day jitters and a side of real fear. In a county where at least 82,000 students are English language learners and many live in “mixed-status” households — where one or some family members may be undocumented — parents and kids are bracing for the possibility that a normal school day could end with a knock on the door from immigration enforcement.
Read related: Miami could join 250 Florida cities with 287g contract to help ICE vs immigrants
And thanks to Miami-Dade’s love affair with the feds — hello, 287(g) program — and the largest school police force in the nation, nobody’s sleeping easy. While the Miami-Dade School Board Police — the largest school police force in the nation — has said they have no formal 287g deal with ICE, plenty of cities where the schools are have signed on the dotted line.
Immigrant advocates know the threat is real. The law now allows federal agents to enter schools with a warrant or “consent,” and that’s enough to keep plenty of families on edge.
There are already missing students thanks to Donald Trump‘s zeal to detain and deport hard-working, non-criminal immigrants in both Miami-Dade and Broward. According to a Miami Herald story, a number of students have already been deported to Colombia and Mexico. One day, they were happy little students in an elementary or middle school classroom and the next, they were gone.
They weren’t snatched at their school. But immigrant families and advocates worry that that’s next. Schools, churches and hospitals — which used to be off limits — are now apparently approved hunting grounds.
Miami-Dade County Public Schools policy, like that of many school districts, is to protect the right of students to education regardless of their immigration status and to keep school environments safe. This includes limiting access to school grounds and student information for immigration officials. Generally, ICE cannot enter a school without a judicial warrant or parental consent, and schools are obligated to contact the district’s legal counsel when ICE agents present themselves.
Read related: Maria Elvira Salazar’s ‘Dignity Act’ is about zero dignity and all a big act
Teachers urge parents to trust their schools and to not rob their kids of an education. But it’s not the parents robbing them — it’s this cruel president and his administration.
“I understand the impossible decisions you face,” United Teachers of Dade President Karla Hernandez-Mats wrote in an Op-Ed in the Herald. “And I know that when families remove their children from school out of fear, it’s an act of love — a desperate attempt to protect what matters most.
“But I ask you now to please consider the powerful gift of education. When your child walks through the doors of a public school, they enter one of the last sacred spaces we still have for hope, growth and community.”
Immigration advocates warn parents to update their kids’ emergency contact cards so a trusted friend or relative — not ICE or the state — picks them up if something happens.
But let’s be clear: this isn’t just about paperwork. It’s about kids in Miami-Dade County starting the school year wondering if their family will still be together by the end of the week. It’s going to be hard to focus on grammar and algebra.
Por si las moscas, here
Here is a list of free legal service providers in Florida from the U.S. Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review. Here is the National Immigration Legal Services Directory to search for immigration legal services providers by state, county or detention facility. And the American Immigration Lawyers Association can also provide a referral. You can also call them at 1-800-954-0254 for more information.
The post In Miami-Dade, first day of school jitters come with ICE deportation fears appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

Well, apparently, the “Trump Card” is not the hot-ticket item the salesmen in Mar-a-Lago would have you believe. Sure, the White House bragged that 70,000 people have “expressed interest” in this golden visa to the promised land — but expressing interest is not the same as writing a $5 million check.
One global investment migration firm told Newsweek last week that the real number will be less than 1,000 sales. That’s not even a soft opening in golden visa terms. Why? Maybe because this thing is laughably overpriced — five million bucks up front, and not even as an investment you can get back. It’s a straight-up donation to Uncle Sam’s cash register. That’s five times more than similar deals in Europe where you get a beach, a passport and a bottle of olive oil.
Because living in the U.S. is so much better than, say, Spain, right? Ladra knows several people who are getting their Spanish citizenship, you know, just in case.
Even the pros say that the Gold Card, announced by Donald Trump in a March speech to Congress, is basically a political vanity project with no legal legs. To make it work, the U.S. would have to rewrite the tax code — something a presidential signature alone can’t do. Congress would have to get involved, and Ladra will bet you her cafecito that this Congress can’t even agree on what day it is, much less a new tax category for billionaires on ski holidays.
As one lawyer put it, “I doubt the Trump Card will ever see the light of day.”
Read related: Miami-Dade leaders react to Donald Trump’s new ‘xenophobic’ travel ban
But that hasn’t stopped this transactional administration from selling it. You can “register your interest” right now at TrumpCard.gov — which is an actual official government website that has really zero information. Looks like a third grader design it. It is just basically a grab for a mailing list of rich people from abroad who might be able to help Trump stay in power. It’s laughable how bad it is.
Meanwhile, the old investor visa, the real investor visa — the EB-5 program — has been around since 1990, costs a fraction of the price, and comes with actual job creation requirements. It at least pretended to link the investment to job creation in underserved areas. The Trump Gold Card? Nada. No obligation to help communities, create jobs, or do anything beyond existing with money. If that $5 million goes into a hedge fund or a personal holding company, that’s perfectly fine under this scheme.
Trump’s crew wants to slap his name on a fast-pass for the super-rich that skips the hard parts.
And what couldn’t go wrong with this glitzy little shortcut to citizenship that’s being peddled like a VIP pass to America?
Ladra sees red flags waving like it’s a July 4th parade — except these are the kind that usually come with subpoenas, shell companies, and yachts docked in Dubai.
¿Qué puede salir mal? Everything. Everything can go wrong.:

Money laundering made easy. We’re talking about $5 million per head with no job creation requirement, no vetting for actual economic impact, and no real plan to track where the money goes. That’s not immigration policy — that’s a welcome mat for oligarchs, kleptocrats, and anyone who needs to wash a little dirty money through Uncle Sam’s spin cycle. Think Panama Papers but with a U.S. passport at the end.
National security? What’s that? While everyday visa applicants are getting grilled about their social media and travel history, this program could let people waltz in with a wire transfer and a smile. No one’s asking who they are, what their intentions are, or why they suddenly need to buy a green card. Bad actors — and not the Hollywood kind — would see this as a golden opportunity. Ladra would bet her last croqueta that there’s already a line of shady oligarchs, crypto bros, and tax dodgers getting their paperwork in order.
Accountability black hole. Who’s managing this thing? Who verifies the source of funds? Who ensures the money actually “stimulates” anything beyond luxury condos in Brickell or campaign donations in the shadows? If it’s anything like the EB-5 program — which already had serious fraud and abuse issues — then the Gold Card is EB-5 on steroids. And steroids with no regulation lead to bloated corruption.
Public opinion. You think Americans struggling to pay rent or drowning in student debt are going to be thrilled to watch billionaires buy citizenship like they’re ordering off a wine list? This kind of wealth-based immigration deepens inequality and undermines the entire concept of fairness in the system. Imagine telling a DREAMer they have to wait years in limbo while someone else cuts the line with a checkbook.
Golden gate for political influence. With this kind of cash flowing into the U.S., you’d better believe it won’t stop at real estate. These are the kind of “new Americans” who start PACs, fund candidates, and call senators by their first names at fundraisers. The Gold Card isn’t just a path to residency — it’s a golden key to the backrooms of political power.
Merit-based hypocrisy. Remember all the “merit-based immigration” talk? All that chest-puffing about wanting scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs? Turns out the only merit that matters here is what’s in your offshore account. This isn’t about national interest — it’s about selling the American dream to the highest bidder.

This isn’t immigration reform. It’s not even a policy. It’s a pay-to-stay country club membership that leaves the door wide open to abuse while slamming it shut on everyone else. It makes a mockery of the hard-won, paperwork-heavy, years-long journey that actual immigrants endure — all for the sake of a quick buck in the Treasury.
Read related: Campaign ramps up vs Miami’s Cuban, Republican congressional delegation
The Trump team says the money — that $5 million per wealthy applicant — could go to “help pay down the national debt.” But Ladra’s been around long enough to know what that really means: it disappears into the general fund like loose change in a couch full of lobbyists. One minute it’s earmarked for deficit reduction, the next it’s padding someone’s pet project or quietly covering cost overruns for some bloated defense contractor.
And let’s talk about that “potentially” helping with disaster relief or border security. That’s not a plan. That’s spin. “Potentially” is politician-speak for “we haven’t decided yet, and we hope you don’t ask too many questions.”
Let’s call this what it is: The Trump Gold Card isn’t a visa. It isn’t an immigration policy. It’s a velvet rope. And a scam.
The post Donald Trump’s Gold Visa puts the American Dream up for sale for $5M appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

Dignity? In this bill? Don’t buy the branding
Isn’t it a little adorable when members of Congress dress up immigration bills like they’re offering you a free spa day instead of a seven-year parole sentence with no chance of freedom?
Actually, no. It’s sickening.
Under fire for having absolutely no spine when it comes to Donald Trump‘s  mass deportation fiesta in the U.S., Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar — a former TV host moonlighting as a lawmaker — is touting the “Dignity Act of 2025” like she’s Mother Theresa of the Migrants.
But she’s actually more like Maleficent.
According to Salazar and Democrat Congresswoman Veronica Escobar from Texas — who doesn’t realize she is being used — this “bipartisan breakthrough” would let some undocumented immigrants, only those who’ve been here since before 2021, apply for a shiny new seven-year temporary legal status. There’s no path to citizenship, no access to federal benefits, no skipping the long line of check-ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Oh, and the lucky immigrants get to pay restitution, too. Because clearly, working for years under the table in a field or kitchen or paying social security taxes for benefits they’re never going to get isn’t sacrificing enough.
Read related: Cuban American congress members stay silent on TPS, immigrant detention
“If you’ve been here more than five years and you do not have a criminal record, and you have been working and paying taxes, in construction, hospitality, agriculture, slaugter houses, uh, fisheries, dairies, you can come out of the shadows, and pay $7,000 over seven years plus one percent of your earnings for seven years. You can go home for Christmas or bury your mother, and you can come out and buy homes and continue contributing to the economy, paying taxes and working in those jobs that other Americans don’t want to participate in,” Salazar said on CBS News earlier this month.
Isn’t that generous?
She said it would be a special, separate “dignity status,” not a green card. “There’s no path to citizenship for seven years. And if you want to renew it for another seven, perfect!”
Perfect!
Let’s call this what it is — probation with a W-2. A legislative fig leaf trying to (1) cover up the chaos caused by masked ICE agents raiding workplaces and (2) tamp down the protests that have been sprouting up all across the U.S.
But you immigrants shouldn’t get too comfortable. While you’re paying taxes and contributing to the economy like a model guest at a dinner party you’re never invited to join, the bill also calls for a nationwide E-Verify mandate, just to make sure you never forget you’re being watched.
And, of course, there’s beefed-up border security, because the best way to get GOP support for the bill is to throw more money at the wall (figurative or literal). Salazar says, quickly and as often as she can, that this is not amnesty, because that’s a dirty word for Republicans, and touts the bill as the first “common sense” solution in decades.
“For 40 years, every president and Congress has looked the other way while millions have lived here illegally, many working in key industries that keep our economy running. It’s the Achilles’ heel no one wants to fix,” Salazar said in a statement. “The Dignity Act offers a commonsense solution: Certain undocumented immigrants can earn legal status — not citizenship — by working, paying taxes, and contributing to our country.
“No handouts. No shortcuts. Just accountability and a path to stability for our economy and our future.”
Handouts? Shortcuts? Ladra would argue that working your fingers to the bone in agriculture and food service for decades without papers or protection, paying federal taxes without getting benefits, and constantly looking over your shoulder scared you’re going to be ripped from your home is about the opposite of a shortcut.
Read related: Maria Elvira Salazar takes credit for judge extending TPS for Venezuelans
Salazar didn’t come up with this on her own and out of the goodness of her heart. She is taking a cue from her false God, Donald Trump, who popped up on Fox News last month to tease his own “sort of” plan for “temporary passes” — but only for agricultural, hotel and restaurant workers, because nobody else wants to pick our fruits and veggies or wash our dirty dishes. And while he’s still leading the charge to deport as many people as possible, he doesn’t want anyone messing with the production of U.S. tomatoes, because, ketchup.
Or cheap labor.
“We’re going to let the farmer sort of be in charge,” he said. So, feudalism is making a comeback? Or is it more like slavery?
Ladra is sort of surprised that Salazar, hasn’t proposed that the immigrants who are already in detention can work the fields. Hey, maybe the government can issue branded ankle monitors and call them “Freedom Bands.”
Meanwhile, ICE continues to raid facilities like it’s Black Friday at a big box store — the most recent example being two ag centers in Southern California where over 200 workers were arrested. Recent raids in Florida have targeted construction and landscaping businesses, resulting in the detention of more than 100 individuals at a Tallahassee worksite alone. At least six people detained at Alligator Alcatraz — the cruel and unusual punishment facility where detainees have report maggots in their food and being left out in the sun for six hours — have been rushed to a nearby hospital for medical care (more on that later).
All of this has prompted lawsuits, protests and violent clashes.
And so much dignity.
Actually, Salazar wouldn’t know dignity if it was lucky enough to slap her in the face. This is the same woman who toured Alligator Alcatraz and said it was just great. She sat on the beds and they were really soft! Everybody there said they were just chillin’, she told the press after her chaperone visit.
“They had three metal toilets with a little wall to cover people when they’re doing their business. They had two telephones where they can call their attorneys or loved ones… [and] some grass where they could run or do some exercise,” she told the media after her tour earlier this month. “It meets the highest standards.”
Three metal toilets with a little wall just scream high standard and oh-so-much dignity. At least she didn’t say what Gov. Ron DeSantis said — that these conditions are better than what the detainees have at home. Es un ignorante.
Meanwhile, Democrat lawmakers who visited the makehift plastic prison in the Everglades said that detainees begged them to be let out of this nightmare. One man shouted that he was an American citizen. Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz called the facility an “internment camp” and said “apalling” conditions inside were completely inhumane.
“They are essentially packed into cages,” Wasserman Schultz said of the detainees. “These are really disturbing, vile conditions and this place needs to be shut down.”
This can’t just be a partisan disconnect. Who’s lying?
Ladra’s money is on Salazar, who lied about keeping TPS protection for Venezuelans when it was really a California judge who did that. And she just keeps digging a deeper hole, making herself more vulnerable for next year’s midterms.
Read related: Internal poll has Richard Lamondin in striking distance vs Maria Elvira Salazar
Richard Lamondin, a environmental tech entrepreneur who has filed to run to replace the congresswoman, said her proposal is more political theater than it is true reform. “Just more broken promises for families who have lived, worked, and contributed to our communities for decades,” he called it.
“And while my opponent blames immigrants, it’s Washington’s failure to tackle inflation and bad policies like tariffs that are hurting our economy,” Lamondin said in a statement. “As a business-owner, I’ve seen it firsthand: tariff-driven price hikes have disrupted supply chains and made key products harder to find — with constant uncertainty making it harder for businesses to grow, plan, and hire.
“We need comprehensive immigration reform that honors our values, strengthens our economy, and includes a real path to citizenship. And we need leaders who understand the stakes and deliver results – not more political stunts that trade dignity for headlines,” Lamondin said, adding that she has introduced this same legislation twice before and each time failed to even get the bill out of committee.
So, while Salazar and Escobar slap a bipartisan bow on their undignified, halfway house of a proposal, vamos a hablar claro: This isn’t a path forward — it’s a temporary hall pass for people to keep doing the dirty work no one else wants to do, while pretending they’re not in legal limbo.
Ladra knows a PR campaign when she sees one. And calling this a “Dignity Act” is like calling a cage at Alligator Alcatraz a “tiny home.”
Maybe next time, Salazar should try honesty and real dignity instead of branding.
The post Maria Elvira Salazar’s ‘Dignity Act’ is about zero dignity and all a big act appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

Pressure mounted after weeks of inaction, soft words
Finally! After weeks of soft punches and lackluster response, Miami-Dade Mayor Danielle Levine Cava has found her spine and is fighting back against the fascist forces that built and are operating a secret immigration jail in the middle of the Everglades — on an abandoned airstrip that we, the people, own, by the way — without so much as a whisper of due process or transparency.
As far as Gov. Ron DeSantis is concerned, Miami-Dade can go pound sand. Who needs local government or Home Rule when you have emergency powers and delusions of grandeur?
Up to now, Levine Cava has been too polite, citing mostly environmental and financial concerns in very bureaucratic messages. But on Tuesday, she demanded the state provide the county with actual accountability and a peek into the 3,000-bed detention compound plopped down like a giant slap in the face — or federal middle finger pointed at Miami-Dade leaders and residents.
It was almost like she had no political aspirations after this.
But that changed this week, just as the first detainees were getting uncomfortable in their new digs, perhaps in response to a letter sent to the mayor from a coalition of community groups and a pair of billboards that called her out and told residents to urge her to sue the state. Maybe she had to poll first?
In the sharply-worded letter of her own to Attorney General James Uthmeier (a.k.a. DeSantis’ old chief of staff turned full-time enabler), the mayor asked for monitoring access, remote video, weekly updates, and in-person inspections of the sprawling complex, which the AG himself proudly branded “Alligator Alcatraz.” That name ain’t even creative or ironic. It sounds like the punchline of a bad Florida Man joke.
They even have merch. For $30 you can own a t-shirt and for $27, a “trucker’s hat.” Proceeds go to the Republican Party of Florida. Because they see Alligator Alcatraz as a revenue source. Maybe that’s the punchline.

To be fair to the mayor, this quiet power and land grab has happened faster than the cafecito turnaround at the Versailles ventanita. The state took over the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport on June 23, and poof — that was the end of local authority. One minute it was county land in the middle of Big Cypress swamp; eight days later, it was a DeSantis internment camp, complete with chain link cages, a 10,000-foot runway to sneak people out of the country and zero press access.
Even Immigration and Customs Enforcement is trying to distance itself from this abomination, pointing fingers at Florida. This is all the state’s doing.
So, what’s changed Levine Cava’s tone in two weeks? Let’s see…
Read related: Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava’s fluoride veto was carefully cast
National horror story newscasts about the inhumane conditions in ICE facilities and poor treatment of detainees, including a 75-year-old Cuban man who was detained for deportation because of an 1980s marijuana arrest and died in custody in Miami, may have gnawed at her. Half of the deaths in ICE custody since the beginning of the year, by the way, have been in Florida. And that’s before they built a concentration camp of soft-sided tents on a patch of flood-prone wetlands at the edge of the Everglades to keep immigrants that are being snatched off the streets.
Videos have been posted of water pooling around electrical wires at the grand opening tour taken last week by President Donald Trump and DeSantis, which was catered — gotta have finger food for the hungry haters — by local eateries that are now being boycotted. Family members of the first detainees have reported their loves are lacking food (they get one meal a day), basic hygiene and access to legal representation. A group of state legislators were denied entry, even though they have a legal right to come up in for a surprise inspection whenever they want.
Digital billboards shaming the mayor into action — at I-95 and NW 135th Street and on the Dolphin Expressway, facing west — followed a letter sent by a coalition of more than 50 organizations asking La Alcaldesa and the commissioners to sue the state and get Alligator Alcatraz shut down. The letter points out how the whole deal is rips off the county, which is smart because the way to our electeds hearts is through their wallets. The state has offered to pay just $20 million for land worth ten times that, and that would be paid out of disaster funds allocated for things like hurricane relief. The annual operation is estimated at $450 a year, while the state expects to see a $2.8 billion budget shortfall next year.

“DeSantis’s move to seize land owned by Miami-Dade County worth an estimated $195 million has been met with almost no resistance by local officials,” starts the letter from the organizations — which include the ACLU, the Florida Immigrant Coalition, Florida Rising, Community Justice Center, Dream Defenders and Engage Miami, among others. They expect more from our leaders in a county with the highest percentage of immigrant residents in Florida, where more than 54% of residents are foreign-born and more than 70% are Hispanic. They criticized Levine Cava’s “meek resistance” and said her previous communication with the governor had been “technocratic.”
They pointed to “catastrophic” potential impacts, which range from environmental to fiscal to humanitarian.
“The mad dash to open a 3,000 person detention camp is irresponsible and dangerous. Confining immigrants in cages within tents on the ancestral land of the Miccosukee and Seminole Tribes during Florida’s extreme summer and hurricane seasons is a deliberately cruel scheme designed to inflict suffering on those held there. That kind of cruelty is reminiscent of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s inhumane tent city in Arizona, which was shut down after years of lawsuits from mistreated prisoners.
“Environmentally, Alligator Alcatraz threatens one of the most ecologically significant and fragile landscapes in North America. The proposed development site is surrounded by sensitive habitats that are already under increasing pressure from climate change, invasive species, and human encroachment. The heavy infrastructure and increased activity associated with a high-security detention camp, including lighting, road traffic, noise pollution, water discharge, and waste generation, would further fragment wildlife corridors and degrade ecosystems protected under federal and state law.”
Then there’s the slap in the face to the native Americans who were in the Everglades before we were. For Florida’s indigenous peoples, the site is priceless sacred ground. Miccosukee tribal member Betty Osceola has been out there protesting almost every day.
Read related: Miami-Dade commissioners sit silent as resident is dragged out of County Hall
“There are also serious questions about how such a site would protect any semblance of due process for immigrants,” the letter states. “Will those detained in this Everglades Detention Camp have access to lawyers? Will loved ones be able to visit and keep in touch with those in detention? Will there be any oversight by third-party groups on the conditions at this detention camp and the treatment of those detained there? Considering the horrific conditions at other detention facilities in Florida, like Krome Detention Center, the mistreatment and death of detained immigrants seems inevitable – and intentional.”
It’s almost certain that people will die at Alligator Alcatraz. If they haven’t already. Authorities denied that there was a medical emergency even after an ambulance was seen leaving the compound this week. A local hospital official confirmed that they had treated a detainee from the brand new facility. Once caught, authorities admitted someone was transported, without providing any details. But they said he came back and was fine. How can we believe anything they say?
“Authoritarianism festers when executives like Ron DeSantis are allowed to rule by decree. Even before Alligator Alcatraz, DeSantis had defined his political legacy by gleeful cruelty against immigrants. Miami-Dade officials have to unequivocally stand up for all their constituents and push back against those profiting from human suffering in Florida. While we appreciate that Mayor Daniella Levine Cava offered some mild resistance with her letter to the Governor outlining environmental and financial concerns with the project, this moment requires leadership and courage and unequivocal opposition by this body to stop the state law enforcement descension on the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport site in the Everglades.
“We call on Mayor Levine-Cava and the Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners to file a lawsuit to stop the operation of Alligator Alcatraz, the dehumanization of Florida residents, and the destruction of our shared natural resources. Any failure to act now implies complicity for the human rights abuses and deaths that will follow if Alligator Alcatraz is allowed to operate.”
What’s she gonna tell her grandchildren?

Read Full Story

South Miami is the only municipality taking it to court
Coral Gables might have been the first Miami-Dade city to enter into a formal agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as a 287g, that gives the local police the ability to stop and detain undocumented immigrants during the course of their jobs. But Hialeah followed. And then Doral. And then West Miami.
About 250 cities and counties across the state have entered into these agreements since January 20, when President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion, which requires ICE to authorize state and local law enforcement officials to assist with deportations. Gov. Ron DeSantis has said it’s a mandate, not optional, because refusing to sign it would make a municipality a “sanctuary city” which are prohibited in Florida.
The City of Miami may be next to sign a 287g. City Commissioners were set to discuss it at Tuesday’s meeting. A note on the online agenda says it may be deferred. But city sources told Ladra that could just be a trick to stop any public comments or protests.
A group of community organizers, civil rights leaders and residents will gather at 8 a.m. in front of City Hall to urge the commission to reject the 287g contract, which they say erodes community trust, exposes the city to legal and financial risk and undermines public safety. Oh, and that the city has no legal obligation to perform federal immigration enforcement duties.
They cite Florida statute 908.11, which says that only a “sheriff or the chief correctional officer operating a county detention facility must enter into a written agreement with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement to participate in the immigration program established under s. 287(g).”
Miami does not operate a county detention facility and is therefore not legally required to participate in the program, these community leaders say. And Miami-Dade, which does operate county detention facilities, is already holding immigrants with deportation orders for ICE and will consider a 287g agreement on June 26. 
Read related: Miami-Dade could go above and beyond to help ICE with local detainees
Even Coral Gables Police Chief Ed Hudak admitted, when asked, that the agreement is not mandated. “Do we have to sign this? Legally? No,” Hudak said at a commission meeting earlier this year. But they did anyway.
Detractors say that deputizing local cops to carry out federal immigration duties would not only increase the financial burden on taxpayers and the city’s exposure to legal liability — can you imagine if they detain a citizen or legal resident, as has been done? — but also undermines public safety because, oops, there goes all the community policing progress made in the last two decades. Crimes will go unreported. People won’t want to cooperate as victims or witnesses.
You can’t have community policing when you are asking people for their papers.
“City of Miami officials need to prioritize their fiduciary duty to protect the financial interests and well-being of residents, and taxpayers should not foot the bill for these hostile enforcement practices that will inevitably lead to lawsuits, costing taxpayers even more money,” said Tessa Petit, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC).
“They must also remember that they were elected to protect their communities, not divide nor endanger them.”
Other organizations who are going to protest the measure Tuesday morning include the ACLU of Florida, the Family Action Network Movement (FANM), Community Justice Project and Black Men Build.
“The proposed 287(g) agreement is a reckless betrayal of the very people the City of Miami is supposed to protect,” said Paul Christian Namphy, policy director and lead organizer at FANM. “Turning local police into federal immigration agents will not make us safer—it will tear families apart, erode community trust, and expose the city to costly legal consequences.
“Miami is a city of immigrants. We cannot allow fear, profiling, and political games to replace compassion, justice, and common sense. This contract must be rejected,” Namphy said in a statement. “Let local law enforcement do its job!”
City of Miami officials could wait until the city of South Miami gets an answer to the lawsuit it filed against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in March and is asking a judge to rule on whether or not city cops are obligated to question and arrest illegals for the feds.
“The only safe harbor left for us is to go to court and ask a court to render an opinion on what the law is and what our obligations are. Not the merits of the policy,” South Miami Mayor Javier Fernandez said at a meeting in March. “It’s a narrow question.”
“I think the answer is 100% clear,” Fernandez said Sunday on WPLG Local 10’s This Week In South Florida with Glenna Milberg. “This is an optional decision. It’s not a mandate.”
He said DeSantis has waged a campaign to force cities on board so he can boast having the toughest enforcement in the nation. Also, the city already cooperates with ICE as required under Chapter 908, a city spokesman said.
Read related: Video blasts U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez for silence on ending TPS, deportations
“We should live by the rule of law, and we’re trying to reshape the law to fit an agenda,” said Fernandez, an attorney, adding that the “commandeering” of the police department will hurt officer recruitment and exposes the city to liability. The agreement “does not offer any sort of indemnification,” he said.

Fernandez also echoed the warning that using local police as the “tip of the spear” on these federal immigration actions will change the relationship between cops and the community and said that all we have to do is look at the protests in Los Angeles.
South Miami City Spokesman Brandon Diaz said the lawsuit “seeks to determine whether signing the agreement is a legal obligation or if it can continue supporting ICE operations under existing state law, as it currently does.” State Attorney General James Uthmeier — who told Fort Meyers city officials that they were acting outside the state law when they outright refused to enter into a 287g agreement (they folded) — has responded by filing a motion to dismiss.
“In turn, the City intends to file an amended complaint seeking to have the substantive issue regarding the City’s obligations with respect to the 287(g) agreement determined by a court as expeditiously as possible,” Diaz told Ladra last week.
So, Miami commissioners have clear political cover. They can wait. They can defer it indefinitely. But will they?
Mayor Fernandez is a Democrat, a former state rep for two terms. It might just come naturally for him to challenge DeSantis. Three of the commissioners in Miami — Joe Carollo, Miguel Gabela and Ralph Rosado — are Republicans in non-partisan offices that are often turned partisan. And Carollo, who has threatened to run for mayor, has praised Donald Trump on the radio in his daily show on America Radio 1260 AM.
Ladra sees this vote possibly falling on partisan lines. However, Rosado, who was just elected earlier this month — and the vote on the 287g contract was deferred weeks ago after Manolo Reyes‘ death to wait for a replacement on the dais — is seen as a possible swing vote. He has been all over the board on this one. Some people think he’s a yes vote. Others say he may be a no.
The Miami commission meeting, and it’s a long one, starts at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 3500 Pan American Drive, and can also be seen on the city’s website.
Help Ladra keep our local government officials and electeds honest with a contribution to Political Cortadito today. Support local grassroots watchdog journalism. Thank you!!!
The post Miami could join 250 Florida cities with 287g contract to help ICE vs immigrants appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story

President Donald Trump‘s travel ban on and restrictions on 19 countries includes Haiti, Cuba and Venezuela, which is going to impact this community more than most. It means that, as of Monday, the United States will suspend the issuance of most immigrant and non-immigrant visas for Cubans and Venezuelans, while fully banning entry from Haitians.
And local electeds are reacting with concern.
“Miami-Dade is home to the largest Haitian, Cuban and Venezuelan communities in the U.S., and I am deeply concerned by this decision which further divides us as Americans and harms hard-working families contributing to the essential fabric of the community,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.
“We learned from past travel bans that the end result is families being divided and loved ones unable to see each other. The work of our federal government should be to protect our borders and pass comprehensive immigration reform, not tear down our communities.”
Trump writes in the order that:

“Cuba is a state sponsor of terrorism. The Government of Cuba does not cooperate or share sufficient law enforcement information with the United States. Cuba has historically refused to accept back its removable nationals.’
Venezuela “lacks a competent or cooperative central authority for issuing passports or civil documents and it does not have appropriate screening and vetting measures.”
Haiti, has a 31% visitor visa overstay rate and mass migration from Haiti creates “acute risks of increased overstay rates, establishment of criminal networks, and other national security threats.”

There are some exemptions, according to the New York Times, including athletes competing in the FIFA World Cup matches next year. But nada on fans. Ladra is pretty sure the FIFA is going to pull out of the U.S and schedule those matches in Canada and Mexico, which are already co-hosting the tournament.
“I am deeply disheartened,” said Hatian-born Miami-Dade Commissioner Marleine Bastien, whose District includes one of the largest Haitian communities in the country. “This is not only a cruel and xenophobic policy proposal – it is a blatant attempt to scapegoat an already suffering people. This unjust policy will sow chaos in our communities, separating families, and disrupting lives.
Read related: Campaign ramps up vs Miami’s Cuban, Republican congressional delegation
“The Haitian Community has long been a cornerstone of Miami-Dade County, contributing to its culture, economy, and strength. Targeting Haiti in this manner is not just only discriminatory, but a betrayal of the values America claims to uphold – compassion, justice, and opportunity for all,” Bastien said in a statement Thursday, citing the hypocrisy in the administration’s policy.
“If Haiti is truly ‘unsafe,’ as President Trump now claims, then why did his administration terminate Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitian nationals and cancel the CHNV (Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan) parole program for Haiti? The contradictions in his statements highlight the lack of genuine concern for the Haitian people and reveal a disturbing pattern of punitive, anti-immigrant policies targeting Black and Brown communities.”
Bastien also said that the U.S. bears some of the responsibility for the situation in Haiti.
“Let us be clear: the current crisis in Haiti is not occurring in a vacuum. Haiti’s instability is the direct result of decades of international interference, including the actions of successive U.S. administrations that have undermined Haitian democracy, supported illegitimate regimes, and crippled the country’s capacity for self-determination. Our Haitian brothers and sisters are now facing the consequences of policies and interventions that were never designed with their wellbeing in mind.
“Instead of banning Haitians, the United States must take responsibility for its role in creating the crisis and act with compassion, justice, and accountability. That starts with reinstating TPS and the CHNV program for Haiti, supporting Haitian-led solutions to restore security and democracy, and rejecting fear-based rhetoric that seeks to dehumanize our community.”
In Doral, Venezuelans, many of whom supported Donald Trump, gathered at El Arapazo — the same place where Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Sen. Rick Scott sought votes in 2014 blasting the Venezuelan government — to express outrage. Some are fearful that their work permits will be revoked. Others are upset that their family members won’t be able to visit.
Adelys Ferro, executive director of the Venezuelan American Caucus, told the Miami Herald that the ban targeted nations that are already struggling and immigrants, and their families, that are not white.
Read related: Maria Elvira Salazar takes credit for judge extending TPS for Venezuelans
“They didn’t even try to hide the racism, discrimination, and xenophobia when drawing up this list,” she said. “The countries affected are all places devastated by war, dictatorship, famine and death.”
On Instagram, she posted an avatar waving and asking “Where are my MAGA friends?”
They’re either applauding, Ms. Ferro, or they simply don’t care.
If you like what you are reading, help sustain independent government watchdog journalist with a donation today to Political Cortadito. Thank you for your support!
The post Miami-Dade leaders react to Donald Trump’s new ‘xenophobic’ travel ban appeared first on Political Cortadito.

Read Full Story