WASHINGTON _ A top aide to Vice President Mike Pence and former spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security questioned the need for immigrant-heavy neighborhoods _ singling out Miami's Little Havana _ according to a book released on Tuesday about the Trump administration's family separation policy.
NBC reporter Jacob Soboroff quoted Florida native and Pence aide Katie Miller arguing in favor of immigrants assimilating _ and against neighborhoods like Little Havana that were settled by Cuban immigrants.
"I believe that if you come to America, you should assimilate," Miller said, according to Soboroff's book, Separated. "Why do we need to have Little Havana?"
The comments were published on MSNBC host Rachel Maddow's show on Monday night. The show aired quotes from the book, saying Miller made the remarks about Little Havana in an exchange with Soboroff during the DHS push to separate families who sought asylum in the U.S by crossing the border illegally. Miller is a staunch supporter of the policy and, according to MSNBC's discussion of the book, told Soboroff that DHS sent her to the U.S.-Mexico border to view the separations herself "to try to make me more compassionate, but it didn't work."
Soboroff then asked Miller if she was a white nationalist and Miller replied she wasn't, but that she was in favor of assimilation, the TV program reported.
The report of Miller's Little Havana comment triggered condemnation from Democrats and Republicans who represent the neighborhood. Older Cuban-American voters in Miami are a key part of President Donald Trump's strategy to win Florida in the 2020 election.
"As a South Florida native, Ms. Miller's comments suggest a complete ignorance of what Little Havana has meant for our community, state and country," Miami Democratic Rep. Donna Shalala said in a statement. "Though seeing children ripped from their families did not move Ms. Miller, I invite her to visit Little Havana so our diverse community can teach her about the tremendous contributions its residents have made to America."
Shalala's Republican challenger for her congressional seat also criticized Miller's remark.
"I was born and raised in Little Havana and what Mrs. Miller is saying is ignorant of what Little Havana is all about," former journalist Maria Elvira Salazar wrote in a text message. "People like my parents who came to Little Havana are givers, not takers, from the system. Little Havana is the epitome of what immigrants can do for this country. It's people like her who are blind to see it."
Miller did not respond to a request for comment.
Miami City Commissioner Joe Carollo, a Little Havana resident and Republican, said many of the neighborhood's original residents have moved to other parts of South Florida, making way for a new generation of immigrants that are more likely to come from Central and South America. Carollo said "it's somewhat of an ignorant comment" though he doesn't blame Trump for Miller's remark.
"The reason that the full assimilation hasn't occurred yet in Little Havana is the new waves of immigrants that for the most part aren't Cuban anymore," Carollo said. "The Cubans that created Little Havana in the '60s, '70s and '80s have assimilated and moved on for the most part to the suburbs. Apparently she didn't spend much time in Little Havana to understand that."
Cuban-American visual artist and activist Ana Olema, a Miami resident who describes herself as a libertarian-leaning Trump supporter, said it was alarming that an aide to the vice president does not want to recognize the contributions of Cuban immigrants to American society.
"For me, what is essential are the values such as freedom, the free market, respect for the individual, (and) equality under the law, which provides a foundation for the United States and which the Cuban community has overwhelmingly embraced," Olema said.
Miller raised her profile as a vocal defender of the Trump administration's family separation policy while working at the Department of Homeland Security. In 2019, she became Pence's press secretary and in 2020 she married Stephen Miller, a well-known immigration hawk and senior advisor for policy to Trump who helped devise the administration's travel ban, a reduction in immigration and the family separation policy.
Former Vice President Joe Biden's campaign said Miller's remark was "xenophobic" and "disappointing but not surprising."
"Attacking Little Havana is particularly offensive for too many Cuban-Americans that came to this country fleeing oppression and in search of freedom," Biden campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz said in a statement. "Little Havana is vital to the culture, community and economy of South Florida and serves as a reminder that the United States is a nation of immigrants and we are stronger because of it."
