A billboard located in Miami-Dade County is slamming Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Florida U.S. Reps. Carlos Gimenez and Mario Diaz-Balart for betraying the local immigrant community in the face of the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration.
According to the sign, the billboard is paid for by Keep Them Honest Inc., an organization that exists to "make sure your representatives hear your voice and stand up to Trump." The website includes attack ads on Rubio and both congressmen for betraying the Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, Haitian, and Cuban communities in Miami-Dade.
Specifically, one ad attacks the officials for Trump's policy related to the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) of Venezuelan nationals. The policy was terminated by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, but has gone through legal hurdles since to determine its validity.
"When Trump and Rubio deported Venezuelans who were here legally, Gimenez and Diaz-Balart were 'no dijeron nada' [they said nothing]," it said. "When they went after the Nicaraguans, Gimenez and Diaz-Balart 'no hicieron nada' [they didn't do anything]."
Keep Them Honest also asked the representatives to "wake up," likely referencing that they stand down on the Trump administration's anti-immigration policies.
"Donald Trump is running amok. He is unchecked and out of control," they said. "Meanwhile, your representatives are staying silent."
Ironically, the three Miami natives are all Cuban Americans. Gimenez's family specifically fled Cuba and Communist Dictator Fidel Castro for the United States in 1969.
Gimenez is the only Cuban-born member of the U.S. Congress.
Keep Them Honest appears to be advocating for illegal immigration, and not legal immigration, for which Rubio and the representatives support.
A similar billboard was launched by the Miami-Dade Democratic Hispanic Caucus, criticizing Rubio and Reps. Carlos Gimenez and Mario Diaz-Balart, along with Florida Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar, who's also Cuban, for their "cowardice and neglect" toward the Cuban-American community in the face of the Trump administration.
“Marco Rubio, María Elvira Salazar, Carlos Giménez and Mario Díaz-Balart have turned their backs on us,” Miami-Dade Democratic Hispanic Caucus President Abel S. Delgado said in a release. “Rather than stand up for our families, they’ve stood silently while immigrant communities are targeted, detained, and deported. They’ve forgotten where they come from — but we haven’t.”
