Only 2% of Nov 5, ICE Meeting Attendees Support Immigrant Prison

We are constantly being told by Southwest Ranches Mayor Jeff Nelson and Congresswoman Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL20) that they are listening to us and that they've had many public meetings on the prison.  Jeff Nelson says confidently that he is sure that the majority of SW Ranches residents actually support the prison.

That conclusion is not in evidence... not by a long long shot.

In fact, the data show otherwise.  On November 5, 2011, the ICE meeting that Pembroke Pines Commissioner Angelo Castillo got the ball rolling on, took place.  Even though a phalanx of armed Broward Sheriff's officers as well as Pembroke Pines Police created quite an intimidating presence, that didn't stop approximately 150 residents from being seated in the library auditorum with at least another 200 residents forced to bake outside in the sun and watch a malfunctioning audio visual retransmission of what was happening inside the meeting.  Actually, BSO and Pines police stopped and screened every car entering the facility and asked if they were "here to protest."

As an illegal (we believe) condition of entry to the public meeting, we were forced to fill out an entry card containing our name, address, telephone number along with our opinion on the prison.  Some people were threatened with arrest if they tried to enter without complying with this patently illegal request. A sample of a card is shown:

Sample Card from November 5, 2011 ICE Informational Meeting

Note that even on the card itself, the organizers are blatantly threatening to violate Florida's open records laws by claiming they are going to destroy records if you don't fill them out "completely and truthfully."   You'd imagine that all these politicians would be more mindful of the Florida Constitution and the constituents they serve as to actually OBAY laws, themselves.

So, the good stuff.  What did these cards tell us?  Well, there were 333 cards submitted.  Of those 333 cards exactly SEVEN cards indicated support for the prison.  That's right, Mayor Nelson, only 2.1% of the attendees indicated their support for the prison.  Only in Soviet Russia, Mayor, would THAT be considered a majority.  And thank goodness for active citizens opposing people like you, this won't be the Soviet Union just yet.  Are you embarrassed Mayor Nelson?  Or are you incapable of embarrassment?

A breakdown the attendees and their opinion is shown in these pie charts:

There is almost no support for the prison. The numerical opposition to the prison is similar to the opposition in the Miami-Dade recall elections which saw the Miami Dade Mayor and a Commissioner thrown out of office with near unanimous support of the electorate.  People are fed up with politics as usual and here in Broward, we have it in buckets.

We ran some simple statistics on the breakdown and distribution of the attendees and their views on the prison. This Excel table contains the results:

One of the 7 prison supporters was from Weston and had the surname Poole.  You tell me if this Poole is related to our Samuel E. Poole III.  The only Pines resident to support the prison was a person employed by Miami Dade Fire Department.  The other "not indicated" provided no contact information and this datum should have been discarded.

From Southwest Ranches, only FOUR people attending the meeting indicated support for the prison.  One of those was former Town Councilor Aster Knight who has repeatedly bashed those of us who don't support (90+ Percent of SWR residents) the prison.  Mr. Knight should remember this IF he tries running for Council again.

Also, it is surprising to find some names NOT indicating support for the prison.  That's a topic for another day.

The Congresswoman, her local staff as well as General Bob Butterworth supported a forum whereby the opinions the 7 pro prison group WOULD BE GIVEN EQUAL TIME IN THE MEETING as the 326 people that were against, neutral or indicated no opinion on the prison.  This is likewise an abomination in representative democracy.  Thankfully, our audience would have none of that Soviet style silliness from our elected politicians. 

So, you can see your gut instinct that a private prison for your community is vile and perverted is right on the money... 9 to 1.  It is the height of arrogance for Mayor Nelson, and the Town Council to double down on tone deafness as they did at the November 7th Council meeting. They promptly forgot or ignored OUR message two days before at the 11/5 ICE meeting and reinforced their unwavering commitment to shove this blight down our throats.

4 people in SWR came out to support the prison and it's still being ramrodded.  The council, Mayor and Debbie Wasserman Schultz should be embarassed beyond belief for their constant support of something that clearly no one supports.

Do you believe that these career politicians are capable of feeling embarrassed?