Miami-Dade votes to end ‘sanctuary’ status
MIAMI - The MiamiDade County Commission rejected emotional pleas from residents Friday and voted to become the first county in the nation to drop its “sanctuary” status by agreeing to fully cooperate with federal immigration officials.
The commission voted 9-3 to adopt the resolution, citing worries about President Donald Trump’s threat to withhold federal funding from communities that refuse to cooperate with federal agents seeking to deport undocumented immigrants.
The vote was particularly significant given Miami-Dade’s mostly immigrant population, earning it the informal title of the capital of Latin America.
The county started down its path when Mayor Carlos Gimenez, a Cubanborn immigrant, issued an order Jan. 26, directing jail officials to honor all requests by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in order to shed the county’s “sanctuary” label. That came one day after Trump signed an executive order threatening to crack down on “sanctuary cities.”
Gimenez said his decision was purely financial. He doesn’t want to put at risk about $355 million a year that the county receives in federal funding.
Even so, dozens of people lashed out at Gimenez and the commission, calling his order a betrayal of residents in a county where the majority of people are foreign-born. One by one, in English and Spanish and fighting through occasional tears, Miami-Dade residents pleaded with the commission to vote down the resolution.
Attorneys challenged the legality of the mayor’s order. Human rights advocates said the order would traumatize families. Undocumented immigrants explained the fear they’re now living with. U.S.-born children whose parents have been deported asked who will raise them. And religious leaders questioned the morality of adopting a policy that punishes the county’s most vulnerable.
“It’s convenient to have (undocumented immigrants) around, yet it seems that so many of us are willing to throw them under the bus at the first hint of inconvenience,” said Frank Corbishley, an Episcopalian reverend. “Miami of all places, we of all people, should be the last ones willing to throw them under the bus.”
After the commission voted, dozens stormed out of the hearing, chanting: “Shame on you.”
At issue is Trump’s executive order that prohibits federal grants from going to cities and counties deemed “sanctuary jurisdictions.”
That term has been used in recent years to describe more than 300 localities that have a range of policies that limit how much local authorities will cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Trump’s order defined a “sanctuary jurisdiction” as one that violates a federal law requiring local officials to share information with ICE about suspects who are detained in their jails. President Barack Obama’s Department of Justice came to the same conclusion last year, issuing a memorandum that said all local governments must at least share information about their inmates with ICE.