Former Congressman Joe Garcia will join others at County Hall this afternoon to protest Mayor Carlos Gimenez‘s directive last week to have illegal immigrants who are arrested for other crimes detained for federal immigration proceedings.

“While I’m a good friend of Mayor Gimenez’s, I think this is a mistake,” Garcia told Ladra Tuesday morning.

“Hopefully, he is going to reconsider.”

The protest Tuesday, organized by immigrant activists, is the second one in five days. Close to 100 demonstrators showed up to County Hall on Friday, a day after the mayor ordered the corrections department to hold anyone who has a federal detention order and turn them over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But they were blocked from entering the public building. Wonder if Gimenez’s office is going to block a former congressman, too.

The protest today starts at 4:30 p.m. — just as county employees leave for the day.

Read related story: Carlos Gimenez betrays our community for Donald Trump

Immigration issues are important to Garcia, who lost a bid to retake his seat from U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo in November. Curbelo, btw, was one of the five Republicans who voted against a House measure that passed last week cutting off federal funds from the U.S. Department of Justice to states and cities that refuse to enforce current immigration laws.

“When I served in Washington, immigration was a very important thing to me,” Garcia said, adding that he ran one of the largest refugee programs when he headed the Cuban American National Foundation in the 90s.

“And it is very important that we stand with one of the things that make our community so rich. It’s not just the Cubans, it’s the Nicaraguans, the Colombians, the Hondurans,” Garcia said. “I think the signal he [Mayor Gimenez] sent to the rest of the country is a poor one.”

On Thursday, Gimenez sent a directive to Miami-Dade Corrections Director Daniel Junior instructing him to hold anyone in county custody who has a detention order from ICE. It reversed a long-standing tradition not to do so and a 2013 county commission resolution that states that the county will only comply with detainer requests once the federal government pays the county costs. Gimenez was the first, and so far the only, mayor to cave in to Trump’s threats.

“The city on the hill is what people in Latin America, Central America and the Caribbean see Miami as. And for us to go for the false narrative from the White House is wrong,” said Garcia, whose parents came to this country when they were 18 and 17 years old.

Read related story: Levine Cava questions Gimenez on sanctuary about-face

“Our mayor is a refugee himself,” Garcia added. “He may not have thought this all the way through.”

Okay, okay, but does this mean that Garcia is positioning himself for another run for office. Maybe for county mayor in 2020 (or sooner, if there’s a recall)? After all, he sent a press release from his campaign Nation Builder account (Update: He sent two; one Monday night and a reminder Tuesday afternoon).

“There is no election going on,” he told Ladra after he laughed a little. “And anyways, I’m a poor politician. This is something that is important. That is why I’m going to be there.”

Ladra wonders how many other electeds — past and present — will be counted, too.

And what else might the mayor give up to Trump?

Miami-Dade Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava is pushing back on the mayor’s decision last week to kowtow to Donald Trump and betray not only the immigrant community in Miami-Dade but all of us.

She’s the only one. So far, anyway. But her questions could put the issue on the agenda for the next meeting next week.

Gimenez went against the whole county commission when he issued a directive Thursday instructing corrections officers to detain illegal immigrants — kowtowing to Trump’s threat to withhold federal funds from so-called sancutary cities — because it goes against a 2013 resolution to do the opposite.

Read related story: Carlos Gimenez betrays our community for Donald Trump

But as of Monday afternoon, only Commissioner Levine Cava seems to have questions and concerns about it. At least on the record. She asked the mayor in a memo Monday to brief the commission on the financial impacts and other consequences of his about face “as soon as possible,” and even suggests they consider joining other cities across the U.S. who have legally challenged the president’s executive order.

“Our community has followed with great interest recent changes in federal immigration policy and your response as to local implementation. I fully understand the need to hold people responsible for criminal acts and to utilize our law enforcement to ensure that all of Miami-Dade County is safeguarded. However, I am concerned as to how these new policies can be implemented fairly and without jeopardizing community safety.

It is generally recognized that detention of individuals on the basis of immigration status alone can suppress cooperation with local law enforcement, vital to protection of all residents. The policy outlined in Resolution R-1008-13 has worked effectively since 2013 to reduce fears in the immigrant community about the possibility of unwarranted detention, and has contributed to more positive police-community relations than that experience in some other jurisdictions.

How can we continue our strong record of community policing and avoid unjust racial and ethnic profiling? What are the budgetary impacts of these policies, including the possible costs that could arise from legal action against the county for adherence to the new policies? It is vital that the county commission receive a briefing from you on these and  other questions as soon as possible.

I  look forward to your response as to these considerations and further suggest that we consider joining other jurisdictions in their pending lawsuits challenging the Executive Order pending a final determination by the courts as to its constitutionality.”

According to Alex Annunziato, legislative aide to Commission Chairman Esteban Bovo, that was the only memo requesting any kind of follow up on the mayor’s actions. Not any legislation or any discussion item request for the next meeting, again, as of Monday afternoon. But it’s early and the next commission meeting isn’t for another week.

Commissioners Jean Monestime and Sally Heyman sponsored the resolution in 2013, not because they love illegal immigrants or anything. They did it to save the juvenile boot camp program that the mayor was threatening to cut. Gimenez had challenged commissioners to find the monies needed to find several programs they wanted to save. This is where they found at least some of it.

But they also found so much more.

The resolution states that in 2011 and 2012 there were 3,262 and 2,499 detainer requests, respectively, from federal immigration officials — so Ladra doesn’t know where this 170-some figure that the mayor’s spokesman spewed out comes from — and that 57% of them had not committed felonies. The resolution also these detention orders to house these detaines for the additional 48 hours after their local charges had been resolved cost county taxpayers just over $1 million in 2011 and $667,000 in 2012 — not the low-ball figure the mayor’s office provided.

Furthermore, “a policy of blanket compliance with Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers could undermine trust between local police officers and the immigrant community of Miami-Dade.”

Commissioners loved the resolution so much that five more signed on to co-sponsor. They voted 10-0 to honor detention requests “only if the federal government agrees in writing to reimburse Miami-Dade County for any and all costs relating to compliance.”

Nothing has changed since then. It’s not like Trump suddenly whipped out a federal checkbook and wrote the county a check to cover our costs.

“How does he get around a commission resolution,” asked Commissioner Xavier Suarez, perhaps verbalizing the question everyone wants to know. “He did not act in a collegial way,” he told Ladra.

Suarez would have preferred that Gimenez had taken more time and weighed his option and noted the response of Broward and Palm Beach counties, which was to require court orders.

Gimenez even had political cover: He could have told The Donald or anyone pressuring from the federal government that he had to wait until the commission could meet as a whole. After all, it should be their decision. Right?

Another legitimate question for commissioners to ask is where is the money going to come from to comply with this executive order? If this Trump administration’s reputation sticks, the number of detention orders will likely surge. I’d go with the $1 million figure from 2011 and maybe double that. Will we have to cut more than the boot camp?

It’s hard to see where any vote on this might go. But we have at least one more protest on Tuesday to show commissioners just how the community feels about it. 

Gimenez missed the first protest Friday, when residents who were peacefully demonstrating against the change in policy were blocked from entering a public building. He apparently took off out of town right after his executive order and did not come back until Monday. But it seems he doesn’t care what anyone else thinks.

The mayor did not reach out to Heyman or Bovo or any of the other commissioners before making his decision. But they’ve been supportive in public statements. Bovo, a Republican like Gimenez, has been more supportive than Heyman, a Democrat who has told the press that Gimenez was caught between a rock and a hard place.

Perhaps that is the way he’ll justify completely going over the commission’s head and against their resolution — because it was a fiscal emergency. That holds no water, though, because there is no looming deadline and some question as to the federal government’s jurisdiction in the first place.

There is no indication the mayor sought the advice of anyone in the finance department about the fiscal impact. There is no indication that he sought the legal opinion of our very well-paid county attorneys, despite the fact that cities across the nation have questioned the legality of Trump’s threat. There was no discussion about what it might cost the county in legal battles, as Levine Cava said. Ladra has asked for any communication between the mayor and the county attorney’s office, which you think they’d be able to provide rather quickly if it was something discussed recently, y nada.

As usual, this seems like it was just another knee-jerk reaction from someone who is supposed to be oh so experienced in public administration. Or maybe it’s more nefarious. His lobbyist son, CJ Gimenez, opened a new consulting firm to lobby the federal government based on his connection to the Trump organization, which he lobbied for in Doral. Could this be a way to make good with Trump after endorsing Hillary last fall?

And what’s next? I mean, if Gimenez can willy nilly just ignore a unanimously-approved commission resolution and issue his own conflicting executive order against it just to make nice with the president, what might come next?

If President Trump threatens to withhold federal funding to cities and counties that recognize and mitigate climate change and sea level rise, will Gimenez jump to scrap the mediocre efforts he’s bragged about too much for two straight years.

And what happens if Trump threatens to withhold federal dollars from any municipality that recognizes and respects transgender rights? Will Gimenez again jump however high to please his son’s former client and new greasy wheel?

Betha more county commissoiners will step forward to oppose him then.

Once again, Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez is going to be on the wrong side of history.

Thursday’s decision to kowtow to the petulant policies of our new president, Donald Trump, is a new low for Gimenez, who has instructed the corrections department to start detaining illegal immigrants that are arrested on unrelated crimes until federal authorities can pick them up.

This flies in the face of long standing county policy not to enforce federal immigration detention orders that dates to way before it was made official in 2013 with an ordinance that, for whatever legal reasons, states that the county refuses to indefinitely detain inmates wanted by immigration not because it was a “sanctuary city” — or that it was the right thing to do — but simply because the feds don’t reimburse the costs.

But we know that’s not the real reason. Because the cost is about $50,000 a year, according to the Miami Herald. That’s really not the reason. The reason was that we are a community of immigrants. Those of us who are lucky enough to be born here or have come here legally know someone who has not. They work hard cleaning and building our homes, fixing our roofs, taking care of our kids and cooking or serving our meals. Many if not most of them are decent people fleeing hardship, war, poverty and repression, trying to make a better life for themselves here.

Now, because Trump threatened to withhold federal funding — more than $350 million that is used in all kinds of services, from transportation to meals on wheels — the mayor is bending to his will. Just like he did when he almost gave Trump our public golf course on Key Biscayne. Is this a consolation prize?

Read related story: Carlos Gimenez’s next mancrush giveaway to Donald Trump

It’s a cowardly move.

Let me be clear: Ladra is all for comprehensive immigration reform that really works to make us safer. This is not it and does not do that. This net is far too broad and will have the unintentended (we hope) consequences of catching visa overstays who have been in this community working and paying taxes and following the rule of law for decades, who are mothers and fathers and students and caretakers, and puts them in deportation proceedings because they were are caught driving without a drivers license. This will split up decent, hard working families with no criminals in it. And the real criminals who are arrested for bigger crimes and typically get held longer anyway and are already sent to immigration proceedings because they are in the system that long, they will keep coming back because they are criminals and we’ve done nothing to change the porous borders.

Gimenez could have stood firm. He could have defended the immigrants — residents of his very county — instead of just bending over with a smile. He wouldn’t have been alone. The mayors of cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Syracuse and Austin have defied the order. Their legal counsels have told them that the president’s ability to just turn off the federal funding spigot is limited. There’s also a legal question as to what constitutes a sanctuary city. Miami-Dade is a county, after all, made up of 37 municipalities. Did Gimenez, who took a $15,000 contribution from Donald Trump for his campaign and went to the president’s inauguration, even consult the county attorneys or did they just not impart the same advice?

Howard Simon, executive director of the Florida American Civil Liberties Union, included his own legal opinion in a statement he made reacting to Gimenez’s move.

“At least, a court order is required, not simply a request from a federal official to keep someone detained behind bars,” Simon said. “We will resist every attempt by our government to punish immigrants, regardless of their immigration status.

“The decision made today by Mayor Giménez goes against the long history of Miami as a city of immigrants. It also goes against the advice of experts in police administration that these policies, such as Gimenez has just supported, only serve to create a wall of mistrust between the police department and our immigrant community,” Simon said.

So, what? Gimenez doesn’t need this community anymore. He certainly doesn’t need our votes ever again. He just won re-election and is termed out of office after these next four years. What he may need is for Trump to stay nice to his son, CJ Gimenez, a lobbyist who worked for The Donald in Doral and is now banking on those ties to get federal lobbying clients. 

The president sure reacted to the mayor’s actions quickly, posting on twitter about it just hours after the announcement. Like someone flagged him to the Miami Herald story. Potus tweeted: “Miami-Dade Mayor drops sanctuary policy. Right decision. Strong!”

Read related story: Mayor’s son lobbies Trump with silent, same ‘ol partners

A group of immigration rights activists have organized a protest outside Gimenez’s office at 11 a.m. Friday morning. Ladra hopes he’s not playing golf at the Biltmore Hotel. And also that the demonstrators all have their papers because the mayor could call la migra on them.

The Facebook invitation to the “Gimenez SHAME ON YOU!” protest says that Gimenez “has BETRAYED the immigrant community by bowing to Trumps racist, xenophobic, and illegal policies.  DEMAND that Mayor Gimenez and ALL elected officials in Miami-Dade County side with all immigrant women, children, and men.”

It also says that those who cannot attend can call 305-375-5071 and tell Gimenez that Miami-Dade needs to continue to be a welcoming place for immigrants.

“I’m disgusted,” said Juan Cuba, chairman of the Miami-Dade Democratic Party. “Miami-Dade County should be a sanctuary county. We should reject Donald Trump’s hateful immigrant rhetoric and policies and make sure our elected officials represent our residents.

“There are hundreds of thousands of families who will wake up tomorrow afraid of what this means for them.”

That’s how many of us felt Nov. 9.

Mayor Carlos Gimenez, wishy washy as ever, was a day late and a dollar short Thursday when he put out a statement supporting the deferred action on immigrants who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

“This morning, I was briefed on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). I fully support the extension of DACA until Congress can approve and our next President can sign comprehensive immigration reform which addresses the status of our Dreamers and the millions who lack legal status throughout the country,” reads the mayor’s statement, more likely written by his spokesman, Michael Hernandez.

“Miami-Dade County is home to thousands of young people who through no fault of their own were brought to the United States by their parents and are currently undocumented. They deserve an opportunity to achieve the American Dream. I encourage the next Congress to prioritize common sense immigration reform.”

But Gimenez apparently passed on signing a letter from 19 other U.S. mayors hand delivered Wednesday to President-elect Donald Trump, asking him to extend the temporary stay from deportation given to students and young people brought into the U.S. illegally as children by their parents and guardians.

Maybe it would have made the next round of golf awkward?

According to the Miami Herald, Gimenez’s office acknowledged getting the request to join the mayors from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. They were told that the mayor asked for a “policy briefing” to “help make up his mind.” But that didn’t happen before the letter was delivered.

Read related story: Carlos Gimenez’s next mancrush giveaway to Donald Trump

Did it happen before Gimenez issued his statement Wednesday morning? What exactly was the mayor told at this policy briefing to help him “make up his mind”? Why do these young people “deserve an opportunity to achieve the American Dream” today and not last week? What is different for DACA Dreamers today? What does the mayor of the seventh largest county in the U.S., a region rich with immigrants from all over the world, not know about DACA?

Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado, on the other hand, wasn’t even asked to sign the letter. Emanuel should have asked Regalado, who wouldn’t have blinked. Regalado told the Herald that he would have signed “in a heartbeat.” Because, really, what is there to think about? Yes, comprehensive reform is needed, but what does that have to do with extending DACA for Dreamers? You can do that with or without the reform, which is going to take years and years if it ever happens (Ladra thinks its convenient for both parties to keep up this chaos, but that’s another story).

So what was the hold up for Gimenez?

Ladra bets that “policy briefing” is really code for a chat with his son, CJ Gimenez, a lobbyist who had The Donald as a client in Doral. After all, Papi ya la chivo when he backed off of giving Trump our public Crandon Golf Course on Key Biscayne. Then Mayor Gimenez — in the throes of a heated re-election where he needed black and Anglo votes — said he voted for Hillary Clinton!

Maybe he doesn’t want a strike three.