Notable Miamians voice support for immigrants amid Trump crackdown. Who are they?
A coalition of high-profile Miamians who oppose the administration’s policies on immigration is calling on South Florida residents and leaders to stand up for immigrant neighbors being targeted by President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
Former Miami Dade College President Eduardo Padrón, former Spanish-TV journalist Leticia Callava, children’s rights activists David Lawrence Jr, and former WPLG Local 10 reporter Michael Putney are the faces of “Four Voices, One Miami,” a public awareness campaign launching Wednesday across South Florida.
Through video messages and opinion editorials on social media, television, billboards and other media, the campaign aims to urge “Miami-Dade civic leaders and residents to reject cruelty and residents to reject cruelty and reclaim the values that define both our community and country.”
The educators and journalists are the latest high-profile Miamians to condemn the White House’s immigration enforcement mandate, which has led to the arrest of immigrants in South Florida who would have not been priorities for detention and deportation under the previous administration.
The campaign is a six-figure buy financed by Keep them Honest, Inc. — a so-called dark-money group, which means it does not need to disclose its donors. The organization, formed earlier this year according to public records, has already launched campaigns slamming Trump and other Miami Republicans for leaving Cubans, Nicaraguans, and others fleeing dictatorship vulnerable to deportation.
“We’ve been organizing since the spring to respond to increasingly cruel and unconstitutional immigration enforcement policies that the Trump administration has been using to target hard-working, law-abiding immigrants across South Florida and beyond,” said Chris Wills, a spokesperson for the group.
READ MORE: More billboards go up in Miami-Dade hitting Rubio, Republican U.S. Reps on immigration
In a series of videos and during a press conference, the group emphasized the contributions of immigrants to South Florida, called on common-sense immigration reform that secures borders but guarantees compassionate treatment of immigrants, and stressed the constitutional right to due process. They also highlighted the immigrant roots of Miami-Dade County, where 70% of residents are Hispanic.
“Today, immigrant families who abide by the law and violate our community live in fear because of immigration policies that dehumanize them. That is not justice. Let us raise our voices to defend those who come to contribute to our great country,” Padrón said in a recorded message.
Putney and Callava urged Miami’s Republican delegation in the House — U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez — to protect their constituents and do more on the behalf of immigrants, who make up over half of Miami-Dade County’s population.
“Silence is not leadership. We deserve leaders who serve our values,” Putney said. It’s not the first time that the Miami delegation comes under attack from community leaders and activists who say they are not doing enough to protect Miami’s immigrant communities.
David Lawrence Jr, who is also the former publisher of the Miami Herald, spoke of how his own mother’s ancestors arrived in 1620 and how his father’s family had left Ireland during the potato famine during the 19th century.
“I believe in secure borders. But every person deserves humane treatment and due process. That’s not politics. That’s the Constitution,” Lawrence said.
Callava also drew on her own personal experience for the campaign. She spoke of her own experiences leaving Cuba and said the current approach to federal immigration enforcement was nothing she had ever seen during her decades of living in the United States.
Putney said he was “heartsick” over ongoing immigration enforcement tactics.
When asked by the Miami Herald who was paying for the new ad buy and how much it cost, Willis declined to discuss details but maintained it was in the hundreds of thousands.
READ MORE: Open letter to the Miami-Dade delegation: Defend immigrants now | Opinion
Mike Fernandez, a Cuban-American healthcare billionaire, is another notable Miami voice who has come out in defense of immigrants this year. He pulled a $10 million gift to Miami Dade College until undocumented immigrants could have access to in-state tuition rates, after legislators in Tallahassee repealed them. He also revoked a $1 million donation to Florida International University for the same reason.
In an open letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Miami congressional delegation, Fernandez opposed what he described as the Trump administration’s “posture of cruelty towards immigrants” and accused them of being complicit because of inaction and silence. In response, Salazar penned her own opinion editorial, defending her record and said she agreed for the need for immigration reform.
This story was originally published October 29, 2025 at 5:30 AM.