MIAMI — When Maria Corina Vegas took the stand in Downtown Doral Park, she moved her hands up and down the Venezuelan flag in front of her.
“Where would this city be if not for the blood, sweat and tears of the Venezuelan immigrants immigrants?” she said.
Miami-based immigration activists gathered at the park Thursday to denounce Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration flying two planes full of asylum-seekers, including 50 Venezuelans, to Martha’s Vineyard. The Republican governor’s decision comes a week after he promised the Cuban and Venezuelan communities in Miami that he would not send refugees out of the state.
As a Venezuelan American, Vegas, the deputy state director of the bipartisan American Business Immigration Coalition, said she’s heartbroken by the governor’s actions on the first day of Hispanic Heritage Month.
“The governor likes to pander to communities like mine, traumatized by political persecution and violence,” she said. “This is a new low, even for this governor.”
The economy needs immigrants now more than ever, Vegas said. Key sectors of Florida’s economy, like agriculture and hospitality, are in dire need of workers.
“Immigrants fill critical labor shortages in key industries at a time where businesses are struggling to find workers,” she said.
Like many Venezuelans now in the U.S., Yaneth Vieira never imagined a future where she would leave her country. The thought of studying English hadn’t even crossed her mind.
And now, more than 6 million Venezuelans have left the country due to Nicolás Maduro’s cruel regime, the Florida Immigrant Coalition activist said.
“We didn’t leave for no reason,” she said in Spanish. “We weren’t a country that produced immigrants. We used to come to the U.S. on vacations.”
She fled to Miami with her two daughters. And many other Venezuelans make the journey to South Florida because they have family here.
“It’s not fair that Gov. DeSantis knowing our story ... treats us like this,” Vieira said in Spanish.
Yareliz Mendez-Zamora of the Florida Immigrant Coalition views DeSantis’ decision as taxpayer-funded political talking point.
“What we need here in Florida (instead) are solutions to our issues, including our housing crisis,” Mendez-Zamora said.
Mendez-Zamora told the Miami Herald that DeSantis’ decision and Lt. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez’s previous comments show how they feel about all immigrants. Nuñez faced backlash in late August for appearing to suggest that Cubans who were in Florida “illegally” should be bused out of the state.
“The curtain is falling,” she told the Miami Herald. “They’re showing that they’re against all immigrants.”
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