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"In USA We Welcome All," Protesters Demand That Miami Becomes A Sanctuary City

Protesters in Miami-Dade took to the streets for the second time in less than a week to protest the county's Mayor's recent decision to effectively abandon the county’s stance as a “sanctuary” for undocumented immigrants.
 
Carlos Gimenez's order, issued last Thursday in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at denying federal funds to “sanctuary cities,” asked county jails to comply with federal immigration requests.

More than one hundred protesters gathered at Government Center in downtown Miami to voice their objections to the order, chanting "No ban, no wall, in USA we welcome all" and "This is what America looks like."

Local organizers and politicians, including Miami Beach Commissioner Kristen Rosen Gonzalez and former U.S. Congressman Jose Garcia, spoke against Gimenez's decision and emphasized Miami's history as a safe haven for refugees. 

"From the very origins of this community, people came here to find refuge, whether it was the Miccosuke running into the swamps, or whether it was the Seminoles who took in slaves and made them part of their tribe," Garcia said. 

Since 2013, Miami-Dade has refused to detain indefinitely  inmates who are in the country illegally and wanted by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement for financial reasons – the federal government doesn’t fully reimburse the county for those detentions.

Many protesters and speakers voiced their disappointment with Gimenez's order given that Gimenez himself immigrated from Cuba.

"He was born in Havana. He was just privileged enough to grow up in a system that afforded him all the conditions for him to thrive," said protest organizer Ernesto Medina. 

A group of Muslim protesters who had been contacted via email by the Council on American Islamic Relations also attended the protest. Around 6 p.m., the group broke from the larger mass of chanting protesters to perform one of their five daily prayers in front of the Stephen P. Clark Center building. 

Credit Nadege Green / WLRN
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WLRN
A group of Muslim protesters take a break to perform one of their five daily prayers

"When it's time, we have to pray, it doesn't matter where we are," said Muhammad Zaveri, a Pakistani immigrant. He said he and the rest of his group had come because "we have to raise our voices" in support of other immigrants and refugees. 

 

Opponents to Gimenez’s order also gathered at Government center last Friday morning, but were barred from entering the mayor's office. When a group of protesters accompanied by U.S. Representative Keith Ellison tried to deliver a letter to the mayor by going through the one remaining entrance open to the public, Miami-Dade police padlocked the gate and shut down the Government Center Metrorail station.

Several local attorneys who were at the Friday protest sent a letter to the Miami Dade County Police Department and Mayor Gimenez Monday calling the closure of Government Center and its Metrorail station a violation of the protesters’ First Amendment rights.

Attorney Kurrum Wahid, who brought Ellison to the protest on Friday, returned today and says he plans to continue showing up to protests in order to help mobilize the protesters to push for legislative change. 

"We're a nation of laws, but laws are supposed to be about right and wrong -- and if you believe the laws are wrong, you've got to work to change those laws," Wahid said. 

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