The Santa Rosa County Commission rejected by a 3-2 vote Commissioner James Calkins’ latest political stunt, a resolution declaring that Santa Rosa County does not welcome illegal aliens. Read Resolution.
Border security is a major issue for the political consultants advising county commissioner candidates in the Florida Panhandle. Last week, fellow Santa Rosa Commissioner Sam Parker mailed a flyer to Santa Rosa Republicans attacking President Joe Biden and promising to stop illegal immigrants before they impact Santa Rosa County. Parker voted in favor of Calkins’ resolution.
Calkins’ resolution cited as a reason for his resolution, “Currently the federal government is intentionally violating asylum laws and spending billions of dollars in taxpayer funds to admit illegal immigrants, many who are serious criminals.”
On WCOA’s “Real News with Rick Outzen” yesterday, Grace Resendez McCaffery, the owner of Latino Media Gulf Coast, talked about the damages of such resolutions.
“It’s a terrible waste of time and energy, and I’ve actually a lot more concerns I have about safety for our Hispanic community,” McCaffery said. “Such resolutions make people feel they have this freedom to bully people in public because we speak Spanish and look a certain way. For whatever reason, they want to mock someone in public; that’s probably where it’s going to start.”
She later added, “One of the biggest concerns I’m hearing from residents of Santa Rosa that have been messaging me is they’re concerned their children may start being harassed in school or if they’re out and about doing everyday things that they always have, that they’re going to start being looked at differently and treated differently and life will begin to not be so good in Santa Rosa County.”
