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Florida Immigrants Find A Friend In Celebrity Chef José Andrés

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chef jose andresDuring his remarks at the
South Beach Wine & Food Festival, Chef José Andrés ripped open his white coat to reveal one of the iconic “I Am An Immigrant” shirts that celebrities, advocates, and allies are using to fight and defend immigrants across the country.

Chef José Andrés: “I am an immigrant”

“I am an immigrant and a proud American immigrant. Together, we can keep moving this amazing country forward,” Chef José Andrés told the event attendees. You can watch his full remarks via the Miami Herald, where the Chef discusses Trump’s wall, contribution of immigrants across the United States, and why he remains one of the fiercest advocates for the immigrant community.

Also present at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival to show his support for immigrants was Anthony Bourdain, who has also criticized Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda on more than one occasion. “José risked everything to take a principled stand. And I don’t think he can be admired enough for that,” Bourdain said of Chef José Andrés.

The comments from both celebrities come at a time when Miami-Dade, the only county across the United States to cave to Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration, has reversed protections for undocumented immigrants across all its municipalities – including South Beach.

Trump’s Crackdown Continues

Elsewhere in Florida, the effects of Trump’s crackdown on immigrants continues to be felt. The Washington Post reported over the weekend on how Florida’s agricultural industry is beginning to see what fear and anxiety can do to a vital workforce:

As President Trump moves to turn the full force of the federal government toward deporting undocumented immigrants, a newfound fear of the future has already cast a pall over the tomato farms and strawberry fields in the largely undocumented migrant communities east of Tampa.

For a state that depends on tourism, which is reported to have decreased thanks to trump’s anti-immigrant agenda, agriculture, and international trade – one must wonder if Republicans have their constituents’ best interest in mind as they support Trump’s Deportation Force.