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.”
This is a major concern given the violence perpetrated by violent illegals. No one is going to start harassing hard working locals but if a group gets dropped off with all their belongings in sacks we should as a community be able to say something.
Women and girls are at the greatest risk of being raped & murdered. I guess if it happens to someone here people will finally understand the concerns we have and stop making this political.
“I reject anything coming from anyone who cannot disavow these tactics.” –Give me a break
Even coming from an anonymous source, those words are such a welcome balm. Thank you. And I do recognize that some people simply cannot put their names to political comments, due to employment constraints etc. So it matters you’re making the effort, whoever you are.
The community as a whole needs to come together and disavow such tactics, openly and urgently. In the end it’s the silence of our friends that’s makes fighting these types such an uphill battle at times.
At least Caulkins’ fellow commissioners make it very clear they take him with a grain of salt, and find him an embarrassment to their Board. But there need to be more people willing to speak out publicly against the mob of groundlings he and other chaos agents are playing to, especially when that mob has Especially when that mob has been inculcated with the same deluded talking points. Their volume makes their actual weight seem outsized. The time for taking the high road was over a long time ago. It’s more than time to give as much volume to the truth.
Unserious efforts by the ignorant MAGA crowd have a huge negative on governance from the Federal level all the way down the line to local politics.
They are not interested in making things better for the people, but for themselves. trump, gaetz ‘s, childers, all of these backwards thinking mouth breathing hillbillies/performance actors are a negative drag on our nation.
I reject anything coming from anyone who cannot disavow these tactics.
Don’t think it was a political stunt! Was a legitimate resolution introduced, as has been adopted elsewhere! illegal immigration is illegal and should not be condoned by anyone, including the 3 no votes that should get no votes when they run again
Current state law requires employers with 25 or more employees to use E-verify. Could the Florida Legislature amend the law to lower the number of employees triggering use of E-Verify? Or, could the Florida Legislature adopt a general law authorizing local governments to comply with E-Verify as a condition of being issued a Business Tax Receipt?