Lauderdale Lakes leaders poised to ‘vehemently denounce’ Trump

LAUDERDALE LAKES The diverse city of Lauderdale Lakes, led by an allblack, all-female commission, is poised to denounce President Donald Trump’s comments about immigrants and beseech him to “comport himself with the dignity that the office of the presidency deserves.”

City commissioners will consider today a public criticism of Trump’s comments about immigrants, the resolution and an accompanying memo say.

Trump has received significant attention in the past two weeks for reportedly questioning why the United States should allow more immigrants from “shithole countries,” referring to Haiti and some African countries. About 500 Haitian-Americans and their supporters protested near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, demanding an apology. Trump has denied making the derogatory remarks.

The sentiment stung in Lauderdale Lakes, a relatively small city of 34,100. Nearly a fifth of the residents are Haitian or Creole speaking, City Manager Phil Alleyne said. The population is 12 percent Caucasian.

Alleyne, who like Lauderdale Lakes Mayor Hazelle Rogers is a Caribbean immigrant, said in an email that the city is considering the resolution because “the United States of America is a country born of the credo that all are welcome, without denigration because of nationality or similar traits.”

Indeed, that’s one of the lines in the resolution, which the city intends to send to Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Rick Scott and other top leaders of the nation and state, plus every municipality in Broward.

Commissioner Beverly Williams said she is seeking passage of the resolution because “I am a person who believes in doing what’s right.”

The resolution says that the 3.7-square-mile city in central Broward is home to many “who have been forced to flee their countries because of the pressures of politics, poverty and natural disasters” but who still love their native homelands.

It continues:

“And WHEREAS, Donald Trump, President of the United States, continues to express a philosophy which is inconsistent with that of the majority of U.S. citizens, a philosophy which chooses denigration over openness and charity, and

“WHEREAS, the President’s recently reported remarks concerning immigrants of Haitian dissent could, just as well, be applied to persons of Honduran, Venezuelan, Brazilian, Jamaican, African or similar dissents, and

“WHEREAS, statements of hatred and bigotry should be publicly denounced, irrespective of the source of such comments, but more importantly, when such comments come from the highest office of the Land, and

“WHEREAS, expressions of bigotry and hatred are not consonant with the greater aspirations of the Nation,” the city “vehemently denounces” Trump.

In a tweet, Trump said his comments about Haiti were “tough,” but he didn’t use the words ascribed to him.

“Never said anything derogatory about Haitians other than Haiti is, obviously, a very poor and troubled country,” he said in one tweet.

The City Commission meets at 7 p.m. tonight.