Miami archbishop condemns Florida detention center known as ‘Alligator Alcatraz’<\/p>\n
Florida\u2019s most senior Catholic leader, Archbishop Thomas Wenski<\/strong>, has condemned the new immigration detention center at Dade-Collier airport, officially known as \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d, in an impassioned statement<\/a> posted on the archdiocese of Miami\u2019s website.<\/p>\n Wenski is a multilingual Florida native, described in an archdiocese biography as \u201cthe blond, blue-eyed son of Polish immigrants, he speaks Spanish like a Cuban, Creole like a Haitian and, ironically, only \u2018limited\u2019 Polish\u201d.<\/p>\n After expressing sympathy for the goal of removing criminals from the United States, Wenski argued that \u201cmost immigrants are hardworking and honest and only want to build a hopeful future for themselves and their families\u201d.<\/p>\n He went on to note that the US faces labor shortages in areas that are staffed by immigrants, including healthcare and agriculture. \u201cRather than spending billions to deport people who are already contributing positively to our nation\u2019s well-being, it would be more financially sensible and more morally acceptable for Congress, working with the Administration, to expand legal pathways for non-criminal migrants to adjust to a permanent legal status,\u201d the archbishop wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is alarming to see enforcement tactics that treat all irregular immigrants as dangerous criminals,\u201d Wenski added. \u201cMasked, heavily armed agents who do not identify themselves during enforcement activities are surprising \u2013 so is the apparent lack of due process in deportation proceedings in recent months.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAlong these lines, much of the current rhetoric is obviously intentionally provocative,\u201d the cleric added. \u201cIt is unbecoming of public officials and corrosive of the common good to speak of the deterrence value of \u2018alligators and pythons\u2019 at the Collier-Dade facility. Common decency requires that we remember the individuals being detained are fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters of distressed relatives. \u2026<\/p>\n \u201cWe also raise concerns about the isolation of the detention facility, which is far from medical care centers, and the precariousness of the temporary \u2018tent\u2019 structures in the Florida heat and summer thunderstorms, not to mention the challenge of safely protecting detainees in the event of a hurricane,\u201d Wenski continued.<\/p>\n The archbishop, who once spent a summer in Haiti learning Creole and devoted 18 years of his career to working with Miami\u2019s Haitian community, also wrote in support of Haitians, Cubans, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans who have lived in the US legally with temporary protected status that the administration is now stripping away.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a020.05 EDT<\/p>\n Key events<\/p>\n Show key events only<\/p>\n Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature<\/p>\n Closing summary<\/p>\n This concludes our live coverage of the second Trump administration<\/a> for the day. Here are some of the day\u2019s major developments:<\/p>\n Donald <\/strong>and Melania Trump<\/strong> visited Kerrville, Texas, one week after flooding killed at least 120 people, as more than 170 remain missing. They received <\/strong>a briefing on the recovery effort<\/a>, and held a campaign-style roundtable<\/a> event in which the president lavished praise on local, state and federal officials, who in turn praised him. The president reacted with hostility<\/a> to a question from a reporter who said that grieving families wanted to know why their loved ones had not been alerted to the danger in time. He was more pleased with correspondents from partisan conservative outlets and podcasts who praised him and attacked Democrats.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Florida\u2019s most senior Catholic leader, Archbishop Thomas Wenski<\/strong>, condemned the new immigration detention center known as \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d, and called the gleeful rhetoric around it \u201cintentionally provocative\u201d as well as \u201cunbecoming of public officials and corrosive of the common good\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n A farm worker \u201chas died of injuries they sustained as a result of yesterday\u2019s immigration enforcement action\u201d in Ventura county, California, the United Farm Workers union said.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Kristi Noem<\/strong>, the homeland security secretary who oversees Fema, the federal emergency management agency, let call center contracts expire the day after the catastrophic floods and failed to renew the contracts for another five days, the New York Times reported. As a result, two-thirds of calls from survivors were left unanswered.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a021.52 EDT<\/p>\n Donald Trump <\/strong>landed in New Jersey a short time ago and is on his way to his golf club in Bedminister. Social media evidence suggests that he appears to have spent the flight from Texas engaged in his favorite pastime: watching Fox News, and using social media to share with the world his thoughts on what he sees on the screen.<\/p>\n That, at least, is the well-informed guess of Acyn Torabi<\/a>, who posts clips of rightwing news broadcasts on Fox and other channels on social media.<\/p>\n As Torabi noted<\/a> a short time ago, Trump\u2019s latest social media post, expressing outrage that rocks were thrown at the vehicles of immigration officers in California on Thursday, appeared just after footage of that was broadcast during Laura Ingraham\u2019s show on Fox Friday evening.<\/p>\n \u201cI am on my way back from Texas, and watched in disbelief as THUGS were violently throwing rocks and bricks at ICE Officers while they were moving down a roadway in their car and\/or official vehicle,\u201d Trump wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cTherefore, I am directing Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, and Border Czar, Tom Homan, to instruct all ICE, Homeland Security, or any other Law Enforcement Officer who is on the receiving end of thrown rocks, bricks, or any other form of assault, to stop their car, and arrest these SLIMEBALLS, using whatever means is necessary to do so,\u201d the president added.<\/p>\n Without knowing that the president often fails to distinguish between what he sees in real life and on TV, readers might have guessed that Trump had just witnessed this during his visit to Texas<\/a>. However, Torabi, who monitors Fox closely, was able to deduce that Trump was almost certainly referring to a segment on Ingraham\u2019s show that had been broadcast minutes before Trump\u2019s post.<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, Trump\u2019s demand for arrests came after Ingraham made exactly that demand<\/a> on her show after she played the video.<\/p>\n \u201cThey got to pull these cars over and throw these guys down on the ground and arrest that, that\u2019s what they got to do next time,\u201d Ingraham said, as if speaking to an audience of one.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a021.42 EDT<\/p>\n A press release sent to reporters from the office of the first lady, Melania Trump<\/strong>, about her visit to meet grieving families and first responders highlights the fact that her husband, Donald Trump<\/strong>, praised her in his remarks.<\/p>\n The press release describes their visit and then says, in its second paragraph (with bold lettering in the original):<\/p>\n During a roundtable discussion with emergency personnel and Texas leaders, President Trump acknowledged<\/strong> the First Lady\u2019s compassionate leadership, saying: \u201cWe have a wonderful First Lady. She\u2019s done a great job as First Lady, and she\u2019s a very special woman. When she saw and met the people that we met just a little while ago. It\u2019s very devastating.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a021.23 EDT<\/p>\n Hours after Donald Trump<\/strong> insisted that officials involved in the response to the deadly flooding in Texas on the Fourth of July were entirely blameless, the New York Times reports<\/a> that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) failed to answer nearly two-thirds of calls to its disaster assistance line placed by survivors on 6 July.<\/p>\n The agency, which still lacks a confirmed leader, had fired hundreds of contractors at call centers on 5 July because Kristi Noem<\/strong>, the homeland security secretary, failed to renew their contracts, according to documents seen by the Times.<\/p>\n Noem, who rushed to Texas to be the public face of the Trump administration\u2019s response, introduced a new rule that she must personally approve any expense over $100,000. She did not renew the contracts until Thursday, leaving Fema call centers short-staffed for the first five days after the disaster.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a021.10 EDT<\/p>\n Miami archbishop condemns Florida detention center known as ‘Alligator Alcatraz’<\/p>\n Florida\u2019s most senior Catholic leader, Archbishop Thomas Wenski<\/strong>, has condemned the new immigration detention center at Dade-Collier airport, officially known as \u201cAlligator Alcatraz\u201d, in an impassioned statement<\/a> posted on the archdiocese of Miami\u2019s website.<\/p>\n Wenski is a multilingual Florida native, described in an archdiocese biography as \u201cthe blond, blue-eyed son of Polish immigrants, he speaks Spanish like a Cuban, Creole like a Haitian and, ironically, only \u2018limited\u2019 Polish\u201d.<\/p>\n After expressing sympathy for the goal of removing criminals from the United States, Wenski argued that \u201cmost immigrants are hardworking and honest and only want to build a hopeful future for themselves and their families\u201d.<\/p>\n He went on to note that the US faces labor shortages in areas that are staffed by immigrants, including healthcare and agriculture. \u201cRather than spending billions to deport people who are already contributing positively to our nation\u2019s well-being, it would be more financially sensible and more morally acceptable for Congress, working with the Administration, to expand legal pathways for non-criminal migrants to adjust to a permanent legal status,\u201d the archbishop wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is alarming to see enforcement tactics that treat all irregular immigrants as dangerous criminals,\u201d Wenski added. \u201cMasked, heavily armed agents who do not identify themselves during enforcement activities are surprising \u2013 so is the apparent lack of due process in deportation proceedings in recent months.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAlong these lines, much of the current rhetoric is obviously intentionally provocative,\u201d the cleric added. \u201cIt is unbecoming of public officials and corrosive of the common good to speak of the deterrence value of \u2018alligators and pythons\u2019 at the Collier-Dade facility. Common decency requires that we remember the individuals being detained are fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters of distressed relatives. \u2026<\/p>\n \u201cWe also raise concerns about the isolation of the detention facility, which is far from medical care centers, and the precariousness of the temporary \u2018tent\u2019 structures in the Florida heat and summer thunderstorms, not to mention the challenge of safely protecting detainees in the event of a hurricane,\u201d Wenski continued.<\/p>\n The archbishop, who once spent a summer in Haiti learning Creole and devoted 18 years of his career to working with Miami\u2019s Haitian community, also wrote in support of Haitians, Cubans, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans who have lived in the US legally with temporary protected status that the administration is now stripping away.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a020.05 EDT<\/p>\n Interim summary<\/p>\n Donald Trump<\/strong> and his wife, Melania<\/strong>, are now on board Air Force One en route to New Jersey after their visit to observe recovery efforts in Kerrville, Texas, where more than 120 people were killed in flooding in the Fourth of July disaster, and more than 170 remain missing.<\/p>\n Here is an overview of the visit:<\/p>\n The Trumps were greeted in Kerrville by Texas governor Greg Abbott and received a briefing on the recovery effort<\/a><\/strong>, including Kerr county sheriff Larry Leitha<\/strong> and W<\/strong> Nim Kidd<\/strong>, chief of the Texas division of emergency management.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n They then sat down for a televised roundtable discussion<\/a> about the emergency response<\/strong> that featured comments from the president<\/a> and the first lady<\/a>, as well as from the governor<\/a> and homeland security secretary Kristi Noem<\/strong>, whose presence masked the absence of a confirmed administrator of Fema, the federal emergency management agency Noem and Trump have pledged to eliminate. Both of Texas\u2019s Republican senators, Ted Cruz<\/strong> and John Cornyn<\/strong>, also took part, as did Republican representative Chip Roy<\/strong>, who represents the area.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n During the roundtable, Trump asked one of his invited guests<\/a>, Phil McGraw<\/strong>, the former daytime talkshow host known as Dr Phil, to share some \u201cwords of wisdom\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n Soon after he opened the floor to questions from reporters, Trump called a correspondent for a local Texas broadcaster \u201cvery evil<\/a>\u201d<\/strong> for asking him what he would say to grieving families who say that their loved ones could still be alive if officials had warned them of the potential for catastrophic flooding. He then took questions from a series of correspondents for partisan outlets that support him, starting with Marjorie Taylor Greene\u2019s boyfriend.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n The roundtable was notable for its resemblance at times to one of Trump\u2019s campaign events, given that most of the participants he invited to speak were careful to praise him and that he insisted, again and again, that all of the Republican local, state and federal officials had acted admirably and any criticism of their efforts was despicable.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a019.10 EDT<\/p>\n Farm worker dies of injuries sustained during immigration raid in California, union says<\/p>\n A farm worker \u201chas died of injuries they sustained as a result of yesterday\u2019s immigration enforcement action\u201d in Ventura county, California, the United Farm Workers union said in a statement<\/a> posted on social media on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n Federal immigration officers, supported by national guard troops, raided two licensed, legal cannabis farms in Carpinteria and Camarillo on Thursday, arresting about 200 people they said were suspected of lacking legal status to live and work in the United States. Hundreds of protesters who gathered to oppose the raids were later attacked by the officers<\/a> with chemical munitions.<\/p>\n Earlier on Friday, the union reported that \u201cfarm workers were critically injured yesterday during chaotic raids in Ventura County\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cMany workers-including US citizens, were held by federal authorities at the farm for 8 hours or more. US citizen workers report only being released after they were forced to delete photos and videos of the raid from their phones,\u201d the union wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cThese violent and cruel federal actions terrorize American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,\u201d the union statement added. \u201cThere is no city, state or federal district where it is legal to terrorize and detain people for being brown and working in agriculture. These raids must stop immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a018.02 EDT<\/p>\n Trump departs scene of deadly flooding in Texas, having praised local and state officials<\/p>\n Donald Trump<\/strong> and his wife Melania<\/strong> have now left Kerrville, Texas, after completing a roundtable discussion with officials involved in the recovery effort in Kerrville, Texas, which also featured what the president called some \u201cwords of wisdom\u201d from Phil McGraw, the former daytime talkshow host known as Dr Phil whose pro-Trump cable network just declared bankruptcy.<\/p>\n The Trumps are now en route by helicopter back to Kelly Field airbase in San Antonio where they will board Air Force One.<\/p>\n According to the pool reporter traveling with them, the president and first lady walked along a rope line of dozens of emergency workers before they left Kerrville.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is as tough as we\u2019ve seen,\u201d Trump told the first responders. \u201cThe governor is doing a very good job, you\u2019re doing a phenomenal job and we appreciate it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Those remarks summed up the message that the president repeated again and again throughout the visit. Everyone, he said, had done a great job and no one in elected office could be blamed remotely for the scores of deaths from the catastrophic flooding.<\/p>\n Those talking points, and Trump\u2019s unwillingness to even answer a question about why so many people in harm\u2019s way had received no emergency warning in advance of the flood waters sweeping them away, oddly echoed the confident assertion a former president, George W Bush, made two decades ago in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, before its deadly toll was clear.<\/p>\n Speaking on 2 September 2005 in Mobile, Alabama, then president Bush effusively praised the response led by Fema director Michael Brown. \u201cBrownie, you\u2019re doing a heck of a job,\u201d Bush told him<\/a>. \u201cThe Fema director\u201d and his staff, the president added, as other officials burst into applause \u201care working 24 hours a day\u201d.<\/p>\n Brown resigned 10 days later and Bush\u2019s praise for the failed federal response was widely ridiculed, including by Will Ferrell in a segment<\/a> of the comedian\u2019s later one-man show about Bush\u2019s failed presidency.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a017.38 EDT<\/p>\n Trump calls reporter ‘evil’ for asking about lack of warnings ahead of flood<\/p>\n Donald Trump berated a CBS News Texas reporter who said that families of the dead are saying that their loved ones could have been saved had emergency warnings gone out before the flooding. \u201cWhat do you say to those families?\u201d the reporter asked the president.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I think everyone did an incredible job under the circumstances,\u201d Trump said with a shrug of his shoulders. He then suggested that the severity of the flooding was unforeseeable and said he had only \u201cadmiration\u201d for the local officials.<\/p>\n \u201cOnly a bad person would ask a question like that, to be honest with you. I don\u2019t know who you are, but only a very evil person would ask a question like that,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI think this has been heroism. This has been incredible, the job you\u2019ve all done.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s easy to sit back and say, \u2018Oh, what could\u2019ve happened here\u201d, Trump added in a mocking tone.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Donald Trump scolded a reporter in Kerrville, Texas who asked about the lack of warnings ahead of deadly flooding.<\/p>\n The president then turned to ask for a question from a more friendly corespondent, calling on Brian Glenn, who covers the White House for the pro-Trump network Real America\u2019s Voice, and is the boyfriend of Marjorie Taylor Greene, the far-right Republican congresswoman from Georgia.<\/p>\n \u201cBrian, go ahead please,\u201d the president said.<\/p>\n Glenn\u2019s question on who had first alerted Trump to the disaster was followed by a comment from the correspondent<\/a> who said that as a native Texan he had received hundreds of messages thanking Trump for his response. Glenn mentioned that he had already told this to the president, referring to having made the same statement earlier this week during a televised cabinet meeting, but said he wanted to repeat it to make sure everyone in the room had heard it. \u201cThank you on behalf of Texas,\u201d Glenn concluded.<\/p>\n \u201cThank you very much.\u201d Trump said. \u201cWell that\u2019s a nice reporter.\u201d<\/p>\n A short time later, another pro-Trump correspondent used the opportunity to further politicize the event by asking Trump to comment on the criticism of the disaster response from \u201cghouls on the left like Jasmine Crockett\u201d, in reference to the Texas<\/a> congresswoman who has recently been leading Republican senator John Cornyn in polls ahead of his race for re-election next year.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a018.19 EDT<\/p>\n Texas Governor Greg Abbott said that the federal government\u2019s emergency declaration of a major disaster was the fastest he was aware of, addressing a round table of local officials about flooding in Kerrville.<\/p>\n \u201cWhenever there\u2019s a disaster or catastrophe, the first thing we focus on is saving lives, prioritizing those lives every minute,\u201d Abbott said, \u201cEvery hour counts.\u201d<\/p>\n Trumpcriticized the previous administration\u2019s response to Hurricane Helene in his remarks while praising Fema\u2019s current leadership. Notably, requests for federal assistance in western North Carolina have been denied under the Trump administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n Abbott cited the response by the Coast Guard in Texas, \u201cliterally saving lives right and left\u201d. Abbott said he was committed to long-term recovery for the community. \u201cWe\u2019re here for the long run, to maintain our operations to search and find everybody that we can, as well as ensure that we\u2019re going to rebuild this community \u2026 not just to rebuild, but to rebuild in a better way.<\/p>\n He noted that the Texas legislature would reconvene in 10 days.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a016.22 EDT<\/p>\n In rare public comments, First Lady Melania Trump expressed her sympathy with flood victims at a round table in Kerrville, Texas<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cAll parents lost beautiful young souls. Sympathy from all of us to the community, to everybody who lost a loved one. We are grieving with you. Our nation is grieving with you. We just met with the wonderful families. We pray with them. We hug. We hold hands. They share the stories.\u201d<\/p>\n Melania Trump said she was there to honor lost lives.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I will be back. I promise to them. I just pray for them and am giving them my strength and love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
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