Miami-Dade’s mayor is defending immigrants with moral clarity and courage | Opinion

As our president and his top leaders issue a drumbeat of invective demonizing all immigrants, our Miami-Dade mayor repeatedly stands up with courage and reason to call for the humane treatment of our immigrant neighbors.

We thank Mayor Daniella Levine Cava for her leadership and encourage others to follow her example.

Miami-Dade is an exciting and culturally rich community largely because nearly half of our residents are first-generation immigrants.

People are drawn to Miami-Dade’s melting pot of customs, languages, cuisine, music, art and businesses. Our mayor rightfully celebrates our county’s rich diversity as a showcase of the American dream.

Our immigrant friends and neighbors are now being terrorized. They watch as many who have lived here for decades, worked hard, raised families, paid taxes and have no criminal history are taken into custody by ICE agents. Some are being held in the blazing heat in the tents that house cages hurriedly assembled on an abandoned airstrip in the historic Florida Everglades.

People will tolerate this dysfunction and cruelty if they perceive those in custody as less than human. The state’s naming of the new detention facility “Alligator Alcatraz” sends that message.

When powerful leaders broadly refer to immigrants as “criminals,” “illegals,” even “animals,” they tell us we can look the other way.

Levine Cava consistently and repeatedly speaks out against this false narrative. She reminds us that each of us deserves to be treated with respect and humanity.

In her recent Miami Herald opinion article — “Alligator Alcatraz is not who we are” — our mayor called out the “federal immigration actions that prioritize fear and enforcement over compassion and justice.”

She called upon our national leaders, as she has done many times before, to implement policies that “focus on securing our borders and deporting dangerous criminals, not removing protections for people who are following the law and helping build our economy.”

The mayor rightly has her eye on the economic health of the county. She understands that we need immigrants as our essential workers, entrepreneurs, consumers and taxpayers.

In other recent statements, Levine Cava has urged those with power over immigration policy to focus on keeping families together, not tearing them apart. She reminds us that sending people back to countries “facing rampant violence, risks to personal safety and economic turmoil [is]... inhumane and unjust.”

Miami-Dade’s mayor continues to speak the truth: overcrowded detention facilities are unsafe, with poor access to medical care. Contact with legal counsel is seriously compromised at Alligator Alcatraz, and its tents and cages will be deathtraps in a serious storm. It was built on county-owned land, which Gov. Ron DeSantis took control of with his declaration that immigration has caused a state of emergency in Florida.

As the top county officer, Levine Cava has repeatedly written our governor, seeking county access to monitor this newest detention facility.

We live in a time when bullying and demonizing behavior and language erode our norms of civility. Levine Cava’s moral leadership is sorely needed. Let us heed her call that everyone in this community, regardless of race, ethnicity or ancestry be treated with respect, fairness and dignity.

David Lawrence, Jr., is the former publisher of the Miami Herald and chair of the Children’s Movement of Florida. Cheryl Little is a co-founder of Americans for Immigrant Justice and its executive director emeritus. Chris McAliley is a retired U.S. magistrate judge.

This story was originally published July 31, 2025 at 5:39 AM.