Participants from across Miami-Dade County are fasting throughout the week heading into Friday’s County Commission Meeting – calling for social justice for the South Florida immigrant community.
Called the "Fast for Social Justice," faith leaders from St. Stephens Episcopal Church and community members say they will take part in the 90-hour fast to send a message to Gimenez.
"I am not sure what to expect but whatever pain or discomfort I may feel pales in comparison to the anxiety that thousands of families, immigrant families are facing right now in Miami Dade County," activist Muhammed Malik said.
Trump says he will deny federal grants to what have been called sanctuary cities and counties that don't fully cooperate with immigration authorities. Gimenez directed the Miami Dade Department of Corrections to comply with detainer requests.
Those request mean if an undocumented immigrant in jail is flagged by immigration officials, the jail will hold them up to two days while Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents then determine whether or not to pick that person up of let them free.
"As a mayor of a county that has so many immigrants both in terms of first generation but also to a past generations, we think that he owes it to them to let the courts decide that and not take an impromptu decision by himself," said protester Elbert Garcia.
Protests have taken place at County Commission meetings in the past few weeks after Gimenez’s decision, while the Miami Beach City Commission addressed the issue last week at their meeting, saying they would ask the mayor to reverse his position.
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"This is a fast which is offered as a special spiritual intention 'for' something, not against something," St. Stephens Rev. Willie Allen-Faiella said.
