The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - #BecauseMiami: Oh Brother, Where Art Thou Federal Funding?

Episode Date: May 2, 2025

The Trump Administration has terminated grants from 365 groups that help victims of crime, abuse and violence. One such group is the Circle of Brotherhood in Miami. Brother Lyle Muhammad is the executive director of that organization and he joins Billy Corben to talk about the fall out from the withholding of money to these groups. Also, Abel Delgado, the president of the Miami-Dade Democratic Hispanic Caucus comes on the show to speak on how the Hispanic politicians of South Florida has betrayed their constituents who are in danger of being deported by ICE. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Proximo. Cuervo.com. Please drink responsibly. Cuervo. The US Secret Service has arrested a second person in connection to the theft of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem's purse. That man was arrested here in Miami Beach. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had purse. That man was arrested here in Miami Beach. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had her purse stolen at Washington restaurant

The Capital Burger on Easter Sunday. Investigators say the first suspect sat down at the table next to Noem's, captured her purse by foot, and then grabbed it and took off. Inside was $3,000 in cash, Noem's DHS access badge, her passport, license, and keys.

Police and Secret Service agents had good information. Montesino was at this Walgreens store on 14th Street and Collins Avenue yesterday about 1.15 in the afternoon. He was spotted outside wearing a hat and sunglasses, so police went inside and they arrested him. Hashtag because Miami. There is always a Miami connection. Thanks to my friend Steve Litz at NBC 6 for that report outside the Walgreens

in Miami Beach where, dude, the 9-11 hijackers were chilling down here in South Florida taking flight lessons not on how to take off and land but just how to fly a plane you know mid-flight in Sarasota Florida there was just always a connection I mean the last place that Ted Bundy was doing his hunting and killing and in fact got sentenced to death and electrocuted an old Sparky down here in Florida. Like there's just always, always that Miami connection. And of course, cosplay Kristi Noem, the DHS secretary, this is Department of Homeland Security, had her purse stolen Easter Sunday at a burger joint in DC.

They stole $3,000 cash like you carry in your purse. Yeah, why, my purse? Why would I carry $3,000 cash like you carrying your purse. Yeah, why, my purse? Why would I carry $3,000 just off top? Well, I presume to get her hair done. Like she's, it looks, it looks high. I mean, those beautiful. Mar a lago face. I presume it's the, it's weave, but it's gorgeous,

gorgeous hair. She's got stuffed under her like cosplay, like GI Jane helmet and everything. But also her DHS badge, her access badge was in there. You've got a secretary of defense who's like using like signal to chat with like friends and family and other people in the administration about like top secret or classified military moves and you have actually breaking news yesterday. Mike Waltz, Trump's national security advisor, along with his deputy

national security advisor, Alex Wong, they are the first two to be voted off of the apprentice to get the old year fired. And who knows who's next on the chopping block? It only took about less than 100 days and certainly less time since the eruption of the Signalgate scandal. So who knows who's next? Roy. Roy!

But not me. I will tell you though, it's just it is not the least bit surprising when you find out that like one of the guys responsible or one of the suspects I should say who is allegedly responsible for this theft, gets caught in Miami, or Miami Beach. I mean, because like, it's just, it's just a thing. What do I always say? Like, LA is where you go when you wanna be somebody,

New York is where you go when you are somebody, and Miami is where you go when you wanna be somebody else. It's always been a sunny place for shady people. I remember when, remember John McAfee. Yes. Yes, he had the McAfee software for antiviruses. And apparently he liked being in hammocks and doing sexual acts, I would not say on the air. All of these things are accurate. I know a lot about it because I was embedded with him for over a year working on a documentary that never got released. And- Because it was NC 17.

But years before that, the hamaca story is something. Hamaca mierda. But- Shit hammock. Years before that, thank you for the translation. Hashtag because Miami. So we were at the office in Miami Beach when he was on the run, remember he was a wanted suspect Because Miami. So we were at the office in Miami Beach

when he was on the run. Remember, he was a wanted suspect in the murder of his American expat neighbor in Belize. By the way, this is why I used Norton. And that's for the best, I'll tell you. But he was on the run and we were taking bets at our office. How long would it be before he made it to Miami? Because obviously that's gonna be where he is fleeing to or escape

Whether you're fleeing from the north or you're fleeing from the south of the east of the west you're gonna wind up at some point In Florida most likely Miami and sure as shit dude less than a week later He was walking on Lincoln Road by where our office was at the time like in like 2011 2012 whatever that was just hilarious I feel like I forget who won won the office pool on that one, but I'm reminded constantly what Pulitzer Prize-winning Miami Herald crime reporter Edna Buchanan said in our documentary, Cocaine Cowboys.

I think there's something about the location here. It's at the end of the map, the bottom of the map, the jumping off place. It was that way then, it's that way now. It's no surprise that most of the fugitives from America's Most Wanted wind up here at some time or another, that most of the captures they have take place in Florida. Coming up, we've got Abel Delgado, the president of the Miami-Dade Democratic-Hispanic caucus,

that is, if he doesn't get deported to El Salvador in the next 15 minutes. But first, more good news. Groups that help victims of crime, abuse, and violence just found out the Trump administration is pulling their funding. CBS News has obtained a list of 365 federal grant programs that the U.S. Justice Department has halted. For a lot of nonprofits working in the area of criminal justice, the news last week was not good. At least two major organizations in South Florida

are affected. The Urban League of Broward County and the Circle of Brotherhood in Miami. The Circle got this email from the Justice Department that their $2 million federal grant awarded in 2023 was terminated because it no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities. This is over 365 organizations nationwide. This is over $800 million in funding. These are

organizations that provide assistance in gun crime prevention, anti-human trafficking, gun crime prevention, anti-human trafficking, juvenile justice initiatives, over half a billion dollars that go to programs that support local police departments and correctional facilities, funding for hate crime trafficking and community-based gun crime intervention strategies. and community-based gun crime intervention strategies. And let me be clear, this is work that the government doesn't do. So this isn't extra like icing on the cake and you still got the cake. No, this is the work that is being done

in communities that are not underserved, but are unserved. Not only in this country, well certainly in this country but particularly in South Florida which is where the circle of brotherhood comes in whose mission it is to involve black men in solving community problems, help make communities decent places to live, this is right from their mission statement on the website, with a primary focus on youth development, crime prevention, and economic sustainability.

Let me be clear, I don't know about these other 364 plus organizations elsewhere in the country. I know that Circle of Brotherhood does work that nobody else does in Miami. Not our government, not our politicians. It is singular, it is unique, it is not important. It is essential. It is indispensable. And I can tell you that without organizations like it, people will die. Brother Lyle Muhammad is executive director of this organization, Circle of Brotherhood, founded

in Miami in 2012. Brother Lyle, you heard the Attorney General of the United States, Florida woman Pam Bondi, saying that these organizations, that your organization, your mission, the money for which you have been granted from the asked by the federal government to do it, granted by the federal government to do it, that your programs do not align with the administration's priorities. Is that true? The administration doesn't want to help women, doesn't want to help children, doesn't want to help need to be asked that they haven't answered. What I will say is this the most diabolical thing I've seen in reference to these particular cuts is the timing. A few days before summer that's a death wish And so obviously people talk about campaigns, about black lives mattering and about empowers neighborhoods,

deserve to be serviced. So if those things are diametrically opposed to the administration's agenda, then I think we just stepped up another leg in this war. Well, but allow, it just seems to me that the this administration is looking at their DEI, the anti DEI. And I just think that because you're serving a community of color, that they don't want you to help them. Do you agree?

Well, the writing on the wall says that. And so that's why, you know, one of our approaches is, of course, we're not taking this lying down. But we're also not going to be spending a lot of time, to be quite honest, convincing those who are diametrically opposed to the work that we do, trying to prove its value. It's time for those who understand and believe this work to stop taking these kind of slap in the faces for granted. Here's the thing, Roy. It doesn't just affect urban community, inner city communities, however you want to kind of shorthand the racism of this policy.

You're talking about organizations and programs that help with violence against women, that help, as I said, with opioid addiction and overdoses, with the availability of Narcanon. And some of these organizations are law enforcement organizations, are organizations that provide assistance to correctional officers who are way overworked and overstressed and underpaid. They provide assistance to local police departments. So this is just like, it doesn't make any sense when you consider what the administration claims its priorities are, right?

We're pro-police, we're pro-law enforcement, we're fighting the opioid epidemic, we're trying to help the victims of crime, right? So this doesn't just affect you, Brother Lyle, is that correct? Like what are you hearing and what do you know about some of the other organizations, locally, statewide, nationwide,

that are being affected by this? Great, great question. First of all, there is a lot of national organizing going on now because of this. Some institutions have already had to lay off their entire workforces, some as many as 60 individuals. I mean, you take a picture of 60 well-placed individuals who are doing violence intervention and prevention

work, and you remove them, you immediately are causing a gap. Other organizations that even provide technical assistance have been forced to stop their programming. And a lot of this work to our young people, too, who sometimes are suicidal. So their mental health counselors and the people that they support as credible messengers, some of them have immediately been taken out of the picture. So this is really having an implosion effect across America.

What about how sudden this was? This wasn't like, hey, because when you get a grant and the federal government says, you're good, you've got two million dollars coming over the next X number of years, you ramp shit up, you hire people on, you have programs, you have obligations, you have presumably outstanding invoices, bills to pay, salaries to pay, kids to go out and help, kids who are you are in the middle of helping. They're in the midst of a program with you. And then all the it's not just like, hey, next year, the government is the administration is reprioritizing.

So we're looking at this and you have a 12 months to wind shit down or six months or what? They just yanked exactly exactly how that went down. We literally received an email last Tuesday on the 22nd at 5.35 PM that notified of the termination. Literally the faucet was cut off. We couldn't even go and get reimbursed for monies and programs that have already been spent.

Literally, they sent it after business hours. Now, mind you, most organizations like ours, they begin their payroll drawdown processes on the Wednesday. So this was direct and this was intentional. People think I'm hyperbolic. I'm a bit of a chicken little, the sky's falling, the sky's falling. When I said at the top of this.

Oh, it is. Well, it's not paranoia if they're really after you, Roy. You're not chicken little if the sky's really falling. Brother Lyle, when I said at the top of this segment, people will die. I want you to explain to everyone, when that faucet turned off, what stopped? Who was immediately affected

and what will be the short or long-term impact of that? Excellent, man. Tell you, the first thing that had to come to my mind is, am I gonna be able to make payroll this week? And then the second thing that came to my mind is, how many people are we gonna have to lay off? And then the visualization started coming to my mind, like our peacemakers who stopped a young person

on the street from cutting himself with a razor after school. Like our peacemakers that do boots on the ground, literally help people put guns away and stop gunplay. I'm talking about people who work with foster care youth that are in crisis management situations on a daily basis. I'm talking about people who are coming home from prison and need reentry support, all of that stops.

So the bottom line is when funding goes down for gun violence, then death and homicide increases. And we have been responsible for the largest decrease in gun violence in the history of Miami-Dade and Miami-Dade County. We can prove that. A lot of folks these days don't really seem to take shit seriously or understand the impact of something until it happens to them.

And so I wanna let people understand this is why we have public schools, this is why we care about public health, this is why we have social services. We don't have communities with walls or fences around them. These are our communities. Everybody's child is all of our responsibility to some extent, when you have the richest country in the history of the planet Earth. when you have the richest country in the history of the planet Earth. We do things for each other and we do things for communities because it makes everybody safer and smarter and healthier and that makes shit safer and smarter and healthier for you and for your everybody

and everybody's children. So let me be clear, when people are desperate, when people are broke, when people do not have access to these types of interventions and social services, this isn't just a matter of violence and crime and drugs increasing in these underserved or urban communities, or places people can other, they can other that.

They can go like, well, that doesn't affect me in Aventura or me in Bel Air or me in Boca Raton. We're full of ignorance. What I'm saying is that desperate times call for desperate measures. That's when shit goes down everywhere and crime goes up everywhere. Like, you can't just contain this.

So I want to understand what is the impact that this is going to have on Miami-Dade, on the state of Florida, on the United States at large? See, I can tell you off-rip, while we as an organization already, because of the immediate termination, have suffered a more than $600,000 loss. Miami-Dade is about to lose millions of dollars of national organizations that were also cut pouring money into our work to expand it from one end of the county to another.

Another thing that's critical for us is another slap in the face. We remember the term essential workers during COVID. Would they lay off doctors and nurses right in the middle of a COVID crisis? So you're telling me that our employees are not essential workers. So for us, this is a line being drawn in the sand.

So when I say a line being drawn in the sand, you're going to see no more business as usual. We're not going to reveal everything that you're going to be seeing taking place, but this is going to cause a massive call of our people to wake up until that violence or that economic situation hits their doorstep. Like you said, this is serious and it's taking place not just here, but across the country and all at the same time dangerous

The Attorney General had tweeted about you know, this being wasteful Spending including a two million dollar grant to fund quote national listening sessions of individuals with lived experience endquote that two million million grant trained prosecutors to investigate child abuse in juvenile detention facilities, youth correctional facilities, or group homes. Those listening sessions that maybe sounded frivolous

because they're called listening sessions, that actually allowed government workers, prosecutors, to hear directly from youth abuse victims. This is not a priority of the United States government. So my question is, when something like that stops happening, Brother Lyle, when the work you do stops happening, because Pam Bonnier said, nothing's gonna stop. So victims will still, of violence and sexual assault, they'll still get assistance.

Nothing will skip a beat here. How is that possible? Who does this work if not for Circle of Brotherhood or these other 364 organizations? Nobody stands in this particular gap. Nobody. It's gonna be interesting to see as well how our local politicians respond to this as well.

Because again, nobody stands in the gap. And so when these homicide rates, these suicide rates, when these fights in schools and neighborhoods, when this stuff, look, we talk about surviving from riots in the past, surviving from pandemics in the past, this actually is inducing a pandemic. What is next? What is going to happen?

Is the city of Miami going to kick in? Is the county of Dade going to kick in? What is the next move here? What, because there is the government itself is not going to do this work as we've established. It relies upon nonprofits and organizations like Circle of Brotherhood to do this work. So what's next?

How do you feel that you've got an immediate deficit of what you said, $600,000? I mean, I know people could go to circleofbrotherhoodmiami.org and donate, I'm sure. But I mean, that's going to come. circleofbrotherhoodmiami.org and donate, I'm sure. But I mean, that's got to come, that's going to be a lot quickly. So what happens now? Well, I know for us, just so you know, the first thing that has to happen is some mass awareness of organization, which is why forums like this are so important.

So on May 7th, it's going to be a national day of action for all the 365 organizations that were affected by this. Some are going to be traveling to Washington, D.C. We'll be holding our massive rally right here at our headquarters. And there's also going to be a call to action. I can't reveal what that call to action is going to be right now. But when I said no more business as usual, after we make that call of action on this coming Wednesday, May the 7th, people are going to know it's no more business as usual. And I'll be honest, we're not looking for local government to do anything because to be quite honest, gun violence in Dade County has been nothing but a political football anyway, where people give lip service

instead of financial service to it. But I will tell you this, everyone who says that they support this work, they're going to be called to the carpet to have to come and support it. And we're not just talking about verbal support anymore. It's time for us to help finance and fund our own missions too. Oh shit, on that note, I think we should leave it right there because that is a real suspenseful, that's a cliffhanger right there. That is it to be continued.

Brother Lyle Muhammad, executive director, Circle of Brotherhood Miami dot org. Please go check him out. Please go support them. And Brother Lyle, we're going to have to have you back. We're going to have to do the call to action episode. Exactly. What we make for a very interesting interview.

And I can't tell you why just yet, but that'll be a very interesting interview. In the immortal words of Bart Scott, can't wait. Can't wait. I wish we had that cart, Roy. We don't have that. We don't have that cart. Can't wait. Can't wait. I wish we had that cart, Roy. We don't have that. We don't have that cart. Can't wait.

Oh, solid. Thank you. Good part, Scott. Brother Lyle, thank you so much. Thank you all for your doofan. Folks, listen up. Boxing's biggest weekend is here and DraftKings Sportsbook is bringing the heat. On Friday, Ryan Garcia, Devin Haney, and Tia Fimo Lopez throw down in Times Square.

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or text HOPENY467369. In Connecticut, help is available for problem gambling. The Miami Day Democratic Hispanic Caucus launching this countywide billboard campaign targeting four Cuban American politicians who they say have betrayed immigrants in South Florida. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar, Congressman Carlos Jimenez, and Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart. The campaign comes as more than half a million Cubans, Nicaraguans, Haitians, and Venezuelans face the loss of their legal status in the United States.

All this as the Trump administration works to crack down on immigration. It's really been something to spend my entire life living here in Miami Dade community. Not only the greatest Cuban-American diaspora or Hispanic diaspora in the entire country, but a minority majority community. I mean, our culture here is Cuban American and African American. That's all the culture we have in Miami. If not for those influences, there would be no Miami culture. And so it's really been something to watch the death of Cuban exceptionalism, by which I mean the status of Cuban Americans in the United States as having a special immigration status by

virtue of their fleeing communist tyranny and oppression in the Castro dictatorship of Cuba. This beautiful country that became a tropical gulag and Miami and the United States as this refuge for people who are fleeing this kind of oppression, particularly from the Caribbean and Latin America. And to watch these lawmakers, who once were the most passionate anti-communist,

anti-Cuba, I don't wanna say anti-Cuba, I mean the Castro regime, anti-communist, anti-Cuba, I don't want to say anti-Cuba, I mean the Castro regime, anti-Russia, of course, the communists who buttressed this horrific regime that oppressed the people who fled to Miami or have been, wanted to flee to Miami and continue to flee to Miami. It's just been really something to watch me become like the most conservative

anti-communist voice, because all of a sudden everybody's bending over for a KGB agent looking to, I guess, rebirth the Soviet empire. I was thinking like, what a perfect moment in history, Roy, to have the first Cuban-American secretary of state like at this moment in history where Russia has become this, you know, villainous superpower against our democratic ally in Ukraine. And

now is like the moment to really show your bona fides. And man, oh man, did the guy just crumble like Cuban toast, just flaky, flaky. He melted into that couch dude. I just it's really the emasculation of Marco Rubio and him betraying everything that I understood him to be about and it's just naked power like it's all self-interested has nothing to do with what I like as a Miamian was raised to believe and understand this is next-level hypocrisy because this is a total betrayal of an ideology and values and a culture that is pure Miami to me. So like for me, I'm extremely confused by all of this.

And now to explain it to us, is Abel Delgado, the president of the Miami-Dade Democratic Hispanic Caucus, and I assume sole member of the Miami-Dade Democratic Hispanic Caucus, if only because they've all been deported. His organization is responsible for those billboards that are popping up all over town, basically saying, donde esta Marco Rubio? And Congresswoman Maria Alvarez Salazar and Congressman Carlos Jimenez and Mario Diaz

Ballard, our Cuban-American representatives from South Florida who have been carrying this flag for decades. Where are they on this? And Abel, donde esta? Where are they on this? Well, good afternoon, Billy. Thank you for having me on. And I'm happy to report that we have many members in our caucus. There are dozens of us.

Dozens. And the membership is growing thanks to our message getting out. Thanks to people from all sides of the political spectrum of all political persuasions realizing that enough is enough. We used to agree on this issue. This community, whether you were red, blue or another color, you agreed that this was a home for immigrants and exiles. And now Trump and his lackeys have made that not the case. So we're out there in the community saying that we're going to stand up for the American dream if these Cuban American representatives refuse to do so. I'm a Cuban American myself. I once had faith in these representatives in Marco to do the right The Trump administration has revoked the visas of 80,000 people who are not eligible for immigration. And that's not what's happening.

So we're speaking out. And it's happening all over the country, of course, but it's happening specifically in this community. And what we're seeing here is just wild. I want to roll this clip about what's happening at Florida International University right now. The Trump administration has revoked the visas of 80,000 people who are not eligible for immigration. And what we're seeing here is just wild. I want to roll this clip about what's happening at Florida International University right now. The Trump administration has revoked the visas of 18 students at FIU. This comes after a new deal between FIU police and ICE

will begin training for officers to enforce immigration laws on campus. Well, it's not yet clear why their visas were revoked as of Friday, more than 700 students and recent grads across the country have had their legal status changed by the U.S. Department of State. However, FIU did confirm Friday it has enrolled in an ICE program titled 287G, allowing campus police

to stop and question even detained individuals who they suspect are illegal immigrants. Boy, taking the international out of Florida International University, I guess now it's just FU or Florida White Nationalist University. FIU is one of the largest public universities in the United States, the third largest in Florida and obviously a significant international community, both foreign students coming on student visas, but also obviously many of the locals are foreign-born Americans,

or certainly are maybe first-generation Americans. So Abel, what is happening in this minority, majority community, and who is at threat or at risk here? You're absolutely right. They are taking the international out of Florida International University this is a giant F you to immigrants and to our community I went to Miami Dade County public schools most of my friends who had good grades went to FIU they were citizens and they were undocumented immigrants and they were able to go there

thanks to the Florida Dream Act that used to be sponsored by none other than Marco Rubio. It's ridiculous now that we're going to have to ask FIU students to show their papers. This is not the country that my family fled to for freedom. And you you are an attorney you were once you want to practicing immigration attorney if I'm not mistaken. The new president of Florida International University, Jeanette Nunez, resigned as the lieutenant governor of the state of Florida under Ron DeSantis

to take this job as the FIU president. She herself was a Florida lawmaker who supported offering tuition to undocumented immigrants, if I'm not mistaken, of which she has done a total about-face on now that she is in fact in higher education and is apparently not in the business anymore of protecting Miami and Florida's college students? Yeah, the loyalty here is not to FIU, to the Miami-Dade community. It's to red MAGA, just like the people who

oppose my family's rights were loyal to Red Fidel Castro and Red Hugo Chavez. We're seeing the same playbook here at FIU where they're going to harass students, they're going to ask for papers, they're going to take visas away from people just speaking up and speaking their mind. This is not the United States that we came for freedom. This is something completely different. This is Joel Pyle's dream, and they got rid of him in Arizona, and somehow we have to deal with this in Florida.

Let's talk about the fear factor here. Obviously, this is gonna have a chilling effect on, you know, I go over to Books and Books a lot in Coral Gables, it's one of the great local businesses here in Miami, beautiful store, amazing restaurant, Books and Books, and it's right across the street from the Columbian Consulate. And I've noticed every time I go over there,

the line out front is dwindling. And I get the feeling that like, people don't wanna poke their heads out. Like if they're going there for immigration purposes, for, you know, green card or visa purposes or whatever it is, they don't want to be standing out there on a public street online lest ICE come by and round everybody up. And I'm guessing this is going to have a similar effect on college students. What is going to happen and what is happening? You don't have to predict it,

it's happening right now to students on those campuses. Right. Ice trucks are showing up outside of DMVs. Ice trucks are showing up outside of lawyer offices. Ice trucks are showing up to detain Cubans that are taking out the trash. This is a culture of fear that they want. They want undocumented immigrants. They want legal immigrants to self-deport. This is the epitome of absurdity, and it's only going to get worse if we let this happen in an FIU. And I had to ask though also, because these are college students. These are not people who are coming here to commit crimes. They're coming here to go to school, to better themselves, presumably to stay in our communities as educated citizens and get jobs and contribute to the

community to pay their taxes. I'm curious, in addition to, of course, families being torn apart, okay, because you have people who have been in this country for decades, undocumented or otherwise, with families, children, grandchildren, who are being deported to countries they might not even know about or know of or haven't been in forever. And I'm wondering though, since this is a language that everybody speaks, money, what is the economic impact of getting rid of these international students,

of getting rid of these hardworking immigrants in our community? It's just a tariff disaster by another name. We're going to see the best and brightest of the world who used to come to the United States for education go elsewhere. And we're going to lose the future companies of Google, of Twitter, of companies like that that were led by immigrants. We're going to lose all that. And where are they going to go? Canada? Europe, they're going to go to our former allies who Trump has ruined relationships with. And it's only going to cost us jobs going to cost us our strong economy. And it's

going to cost us our moral superiority over dictatorships. Canada, you mean the 51st state? I just want to confirm. Okay, not anytime soon. Okay, so Maria Elvira Salazar, the congresswoman, Fidel Castro's girlfriend, she loves to take credit. This is kind of a trend in Republican lawmakers loves to take credit for shit that she has nothing to do with. But this is particularly I mean, uniquely hilarious. The headline is Maria Elvira Salazar takes credit for judge extending TPS for Venezuelans. First and foremost, what happened to TPS for Venezuelans?

What is the status legally? And how is it that Maria Elvira Salazar thinks that she had anything to do with that? So the Trump administration tried to cancel the TPS extension that President Biden did while he was president. Temporary protective status, is that correct? Correct. Okay. This is something, it's usually temporary name only, historically outside of Trump presidencies.

This is a type of status that has been enjoyed by Cubans, Venezuelans, Haitians, and others. And it's permanent because it keeps on getting renewed. President Biden renewed it for Venezuelans and for Haitians and for Ukrainians, and President Trump decided to take that away. And there was no good reason to do that, so strong immigration attorneys took it to court and won. They won at the federal level in San Francisco, I believe. Now, while they're appealing this case, while the Trump administration is appealing this case, Zalazar decided to take credit for it and saying, thank you, President Trump, for extending TPS for Venezuelans.

It is next level gaslighting. On one hand, you have an appeal saying, we can't have these Venezuelans here, and trying to deport them to a communist country where they will suffer. And on the other hand, she takes credit because she wants Venezuelan American votes. To be very clear, the Trump administration wants to revoke TPS and send hundreds of thousands of not just Venezuelans though, right,

of Haitian Americans or Haitians, Cubans, Cuban Americans back to their country where they will face, I mean, unimaginable shit, whether it's political, economic, otherwise, they came here for a reason. They came, they were escaping those countries looking for a better life, right? I mean, this is not anything that we should be thanking her or the Trump administration. This is something that some very hardworking immigration attorneys and some judges who looked at the facts and said, this is not legal or right.

Absolutely. And an extension of that, there's the, what Trump did with humanitarian parole, which does involve Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans, who came into this country legally. They were brought here with permission of the US government. And then Trump came to power and he said, never mind, you need to go back.

And thankfully, another judge in another case said, no, you don't need to go back now and put an injunction on that. So thankfully for now, at least, they get to stay. I'm sure Zalazar is gonna take credit for that too. They were supposed to send people back by April 20th. There were Cubans that were sent back before April 20th. There were Cubans that were told that they had to go back to the communist Cuba before that.

And I hope that no one ended up following the letter that they got from the government and self-deporting as they call it because it would be absurd But thankfully that's on hold as well Such a staggering like I was reading a headline just this week in Bloomberg It said Cuban exiles are losing their privileged migration status under Trump It's so wild to me because obviously this was a community that overwhelmingly Supported Donald Trump the CubanAmerican community of South Florida in particular.

What'd you vote for? But it's so, like again, it's antithetical to my values as an American and as a Miamian. Like I was raised to believe that Cubans and Cuban-Americans were entitled to this, what they called Cuban exceptionalism. That's a real term of art. I didn't just make that up. Like that is a real thing for nearly 60 years of American immigration policy. And to watch Cuban-Americans basically say, no, I don't want it, or no, we don't want it, or no, deport these Cuban-Americans over here, but not these Cuban-Americans, or to vote to deport themselves is just mind-boggling to me. Yeah, I've always thought that Haitians and later

Venezuelans deserve the same protections we have had as a community. I'm very grateful that this country opened the doors to my family. I wish they would continue to do that. That's not happening. And I understand that Cuban Americans voted in a majority for President Trump but they were told that he was gonna focus on undocumented immigrants. They were told that he was gonna focus on criminals and he's taking away legal status from people who entered this country legally. That cannot be said enough. He said he was gonna focus on undocumented immigrants and he's targeting people who came here legally.

It is absurd. It's not what people wanted. Are you saying he lied? Yes, surprisingly so. The convicted felon lied. And he's trying to deport people with no criminal record, similar to what he has. Before we go, Representative Congresswoman Maria Elvira Salazar has a special place in my heart She is my representative. She represents me in Congress, which is wild. I mean to watch her

On television is a real treat. This is a woman who's from the TV news business, but cannot seem to appear honest or rational It's like it's just embarrassing, like to see her out there representing this community in any way, but she has a real propensity. She chronically takes credit for shit that she has absolutely nothing to do with. It's like a problem.

It's like, I don't know, it's like she has an aversion to the truth. Like she just, it's this really weird, it's almost clinical or pathological. I can't diagnose her with anything, but she's just like, she is a pathological liar and gas lighter. And it's really a sight to behold. And this is her last appearance on CBS News Miami's

Facing South Florida with Jim DeFede. And I say her last appearance on CBS News Miami's Facing South Florida with Jim DeFede. And I say her last, her most recent, but also this was like last year and she has not returned to the show since. And it's no wonder Jim DeFede is one of those journalists that actually asks a follow-up question and comes armed with the receipts. Last month you were at FIU

and you presented a check for $650,000 to help small businesses at FIU. But you voted against the bill that gave the money that you then signed a check for and handed and had a photo op, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, right? You voted against that bill. Right now you have to give me more details, but I do know that every time I have an opportunity

to bring money to my constituents, I, right now you have to give me more details, but I do know that every time I have an opportunity to bring money to my constituents, I do so. I just did $400,000. But look, let's go- But you voted against, you voted against the Chips and Science Act, right? Listen, I, right now I need to, I need to ask my staff, but no, why don't we look at the $40 million that I have brought to this community. No, no, let's- Aren't you proud of me? Aren't you proud of the $40 million that I have brought to this community? No, no, let's... Aren't you proud of me?

Aren't you proud of the $40 million that I brought? But how much? But how much? Aren't you proud that I wrote the Dignity Act? Haven't I? Let's talk about the Americas Act. Wait, wait, wait a second. Let me...

One second. Tell me. The money that you talk about, the $40 million that you bring back to the district, sometimes that money comes from bills that you voted against. You voted against the CHIPS Act, and yet you praise the fact that the South Florida Climate Resilience Tech Hub is going to be started in Miami. You voted against the infrastructure bill,

and you talk about all the money that comes back to the airport. So at the same time that you're taking credit for the money that you bring back to the district, in Washington, you're voting against these projects on party line votes. Listen, that was, I think, last cycle. I cannot really remember right now, but just look at the Americas Act, which is what I'm going to vote. You don't want to explain why you vote against these.

Right now, and I'm not trying to be a politician, there's so many bills that I've introduced that I know that many of them I voted against that understand. And but it's OK. So sometimes I vote and sometimes I don't. But let's look at the positive. Let's look at the 40 million dollars that abroad. And let's look at the dignity. You know, Congresswoman Salazar probably took pointers from Fidel Castro when she interviewed

him. The difference is that Fidel Castro didn't have to deal with real journalists like when he was interviewed by Zalazar, but Zalazar has to deal with real journalists in Miami Dade, at least for now. So she gets to squirm, she gets to look ridiculous when she responds to Daftidi and his very important questions. Before we go, what are you hoping happens? What would you like to see our Congress people, our Secretary of State, step up and do here? I would like to see him stop the deal with Ed Savileau

to traffic asylum applicants to prison. I would like to see him stop deporting students who are just voicing their opinions. I would like to see the three members of Congress actually use their power. You know, they wield so much power in the House of Representatives because without those three votes, Republicans cannot pass anything. So all they have to do is tell the Trump administration, stop trying to deport documented immigrants. Stop aiming your vitriol at our community or we will tank your agenda. That's what they could do. I shouldn't have to explain power to members of Congress,

but they need to use their power to represent our community and not to kowtow to President Trump. to represent our community and not to kowtow to President Trump. Only in the Banana Republic, baby. Only in Miami. Abel Delgado, president of the Miami Day Democratic Hispanic Caucus. Thanks so much for joining us. Good luck. Keep fighting the good fight. Thank you.