MIAMI (WSVN) - South Florida politicians express concern over Trump’s immigration order
Members of South Florida’s congressional delegation and community leaders expressed fears, Tuesday, that President Trump’s new immigration order could affect the legal immigrant community.
During a press conference Tuesday, the White House Press Secretary said that Trump’s order is not mass deportation. However, the plan, released earlier that day, appears to be a step up in immigration law enforcement with a focus on illegal immigrants convicted of or charged with a crime.
The order includes plans to hire 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, enlist the help of local law enforcement and make it easier to deport undocumented children and their families.
“If success is measured by how many people you are going to be deporting, yikes,” said U.S. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL).
Ros-Lehtinen responded to the news just before an event highlighting the contributions of immigrants in the community.
“We started our business in Venezuela,” said one business owner.
Another business owner was from Paris and another from Belgium.
All the businesses on hand began at Venture Hive, a firm that helps entrepreneurs from all around the world launch their business in Miami.
As they touted their global companies, many fear their reach around the world could be in trouble if U.S. immigration policy sends the wrong message.
U.S. Representative Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) backed Trump’s move to secure borders but encouraged the White House to work with Congress in doing so.
“Of course it means border security, of course it means modernizing our visa system,” Curbelo said. “But it also means making sure that entrepreneurs like these can continue coming to our country so that they can contribute.”
Still, Curbelo said, the time for immigration action is now.
“We’ve been having this debate in this country for 10 years,” he said. “There’s been no action. The time for action is now.”
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez and a senior advisor to the president are slated to speak at a town hall event on immigration in Jacksonville, Tuesday night.
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