On second thought, Joe Gruters postpones immigration ‘listening tour’

gruters
Delay comes amid amplified national rhetoric around the issue.

A controversial listening tour on immigration issues has been postponed.

State Sen. Joe Gruters said emotions around the issue run too high at this moment.

“The rhetoric across the political spectrum is so charged right now that in order to have a truly productive listening tour we’ve decided to postpone to a later date,” Gruters told Florida Politics.

Gruters and state Rep. Cord Byrd, a Neptune Beach Republican, intended to kick off a tour of select cities on Aug. 19. The lawmakers served as chief sponsors for a so-called sanctuary cities ban signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis this year.

Last week, the tour announced it would add a stop in Miami after many called for the immigrant-rich community to be included, as reported by the Miami Herald.

Now, it appears more likely the stops will happen during the next Legislative Session.

Byrd and Gruters also recently attended the National Conference of State Legislatures. Both men were asked about their immigration bill this year, so Gruters know interest remains high.

The postponement of the tour comes a week after a mass shooting in El Paso that left 31 dead. And, ironically, the video made by Gruters to announce the tour was filmed in El Paso.

An arrest affidavit obtained by the Washington Post shows suspected shooter Patrick Crusius told police his intended target was “Mexicans.” Authorities are also looking at a manifesto published minutes before the shooting that decried a “Hispanic invasion of Texas.”

All this elevated the discussion of white supremacists in the U.S. and tied the issue to immigration. Sources close to Gruters said he doesn’t want a listening tour conflated with such nationalist rhetoric.

Ultimately, sources said delaying the tour seemed the right thing to do. It also would help avoid conflating immigration with gun control, another issue raised in part by the Texas mass shooting.

The tour had already been accused of focusing the tour more on electoral politics because a political committee was footing the bill.

Gruters maintained the entire time he wants people from all sides of the debate to attend tour events. He has invited some lawmakers critical of the sanctuary cities bill to attend.

He also said immigration remained his top issue right now. The Senator also co-introduced an E-Verify bill last year with state Sen. Aaron Bean that did not move. He expects that issue to come up again this Session.

Jacob Ogles

Jacob Ogles has covered politics in Florida since 2000 for regional outlets including SRQ Magazine in Sarasota, The News-Press in Fort Myers and The Daily Commercial in Leesburg. His work has appeared nationally in The Advocate, Wired and other publications. Events like SRQ’s Where The Votes Are workshops made Ogles one of Southwest Florida’s most respected political analysts, and outlets like WWSB ABC 7 and WSRQ Sarasota have featured his insights. He can be reached at [email protected].


4 comments

  • Robert Rigby.

    August 10, 2019 at 1:32 pm

    This is not on subject, but as a member of NRA, and have been for may years, I believe strongly in the 2nd Amendment! However, my thought concerning weapons have been for family or self protection. I also believe that as the framers did, that weapons, should be kept for Tyranny from Government and providing food for family or neighbors. For providing food, I do not understand the need for hunters to carry a weapon that has the capacity to shoot more that 10 times, and that is extreme. When I go to the shooting range, I pay my $10.00, get my target, and maybe shoot 3 or 4 times. If those 3 or 4 shots are inside the size of a quarter, at 100 yards, or the size of a small animals head, I have no reason to continue!

    If you need a weapon that exceeds that capability, go home – and take the short cut!

    • gary

      August 11, 2019 at 1:36 am

      @Robert

      The second amendment has no restrictions. If we permit even one, then we are done! I will never agree to any restrictions! I don’t hunt, and I don’t like guns. But i completely understand why the founders wanted me to have one!

  • voncile

    August 11, 2019 at 3:23 pm

    All one has to do to understand why we have the 2nd Amendment is listen to the far-left liberal Democrats spew their ‘socialism’ for a few minutes.
    If they ever get in power again, America the Beautiful as we know it will become unrecognizable.

  • James H Swor

    August 12, 2019 at 8:54 pm

    Hacks like Ogles use every sound bite possible as an opportunity to take cheap shots at anything right of center, and insert, rather than just their foot, their Leftist big mouth extremism, crass innuendo, and “white supremacy” tropes into anything resembling a discussion of policy. Trotsky, I mean Bronstein, would be proud…

Comments are closed.


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