Don’t blame FDLE for immigrant’s injuries
A “legal resident” of Stuart was convicted in a “violent arrest” stemming from a motor vehicle stop in which he allegedly rolled through a stop sign, TCPalm reported.
The man’s injuries were caused because he made the arrest violent, refusing to comply with lawful orders by an agent of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The Guatemalan man supposedly locked his arms in the steering wheel, bit the agent’s arm and struck his face after refusing to exit his vehicle or roll down his window after the agent peacefully tried getting him to comply for several minutes.
Officers have discretion to order any occupant of a vehicle to either stay in or exit their vehicle as they deem necessary.
The man’s brother, who agents were surveilling for several prior days to serve a deportation order, was also in the van. Reportedly, the brother committed no crime, but illegal entry into our country is statutorily a crime, so there was no racial profiling.
More: FDLE breaks glass, drags legal resident through it after ‘rolling stop’
The Guatemalan roofer, here for 20 years on a work permit, also had a pending political asylum case. Many political asylum claims never appear in court. Did his? And why is his case pending for 20 years? And why is he not yet a citizen after being here for 20 years? Why was he harboring his brother, an illegal immigrant? That is also a problem.
Regarding minorities supposedly reacting differently to getting stopped by police, that is racial profiling, and woke victimhood, and does not excuse them from refusing to comply.
Regarding officers enforcing immigration laws using more force, where are the stats for how much force their suspects are using?
Regarding 71% of detainees having committed no crime, again, if they are here illegally, they are perpetuating a violating of the law.
The FDLE agent was justified.
Douglas Wrenn, Vero Beach
FDLE with help from MCSO broke Ernesto Puac Son’s window and dragged him through broken glass after he refused to get out. They were looking for his brother, but arrested him without a judicial warrant. He was in the country legally, records show.
Make Martin County High School pool an election issue
Here’s something cheerful we can accomplish together. An opportunity is hiding in plain sight.
Have you driven past the pool at Martin County High School lately? It’s locked up!
In 1973, Martin County was shocked 48 people drowned in Florida. We needed a community pool. Kiwanis, Soroptimists, businesses, churches and government raised funds, including from bake sales. A construction company built a house and auctioned it off. Together, they built the 1975 community pool.
It was the pride of the community. Third-graders spent a week at the pool learning to swim. It was open year-round for low-cost family recreation, training (swimming lessons for all ― lifeguards, divers, therapy, sheriff’s scuba training, the elderly, special needs, school and adult swim teams.
Remember?
Sailfish Splash opened in 2012; the county dropped assistance to the school board to maintain the pool. Over the years, the pool declined. The idea was that Sailfish would replace the community pool.
Understandable, but wrong. Swimming starts young with safety from drowning through playing around the water with family and friends.
Now we have three high schools’ award-winning swim teams. There’s not enough time or room. Are they losing out on swim scholarships right up the road at Indian River State College?
Sailfish is an aquatics entertainment center, but most of our young families can’t afford it.
In 2026, the locked gates make it obvious that our school board cannot be expected to manage a robust, year-round pool; a community can.
On Aug. 18, three of our five school board members are up for reelection. Ask all incumbents and those challenging. What are you willing to do for swimming?
We saved the Lyric Theatre, the old post office, the Stuart Feed Store, the old courthouse. Do we want to lose another of Stuart’s iconic classics? In a community surrounded by water?
Blanche Wells, Stuart
FDLE breaks window, arrests Florida immigrant in the US legally
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FDLE with help from MCSO broke Ernesto Puac Son’s window and dragged him through broken glass after he refused to get out. They were looking for his brother, but arrested him without a judicial warrant. He was in the country legally, records show.
(Provided by: Martin County Sheriff’s Office)If Florida Legislature wants to save money ….
Here’s an idea that should quickly gather a lot of support in this state.
Let’s cut to the chase and ask the ever-compliant Florida Legislature to pass a law changing the name of this so-called “free” state to TRUMPLAND.
That way, they will avoid having to rename every highway, government building, airport, school, arena, playground, etc., after our “dear leader” in piecemeal fashion. It will also save many millions of our tax dollars in the costs of the name-changing expenses that will no longer be required!
Albert Stender, Stuart
Maybe this is better deal for Iran-U.S.
As I write this, a deal to end our conflict with Iran seems to have been reached. Or maybe not. Heaven knows we’ve heard this before any number of times.
I’m no one’s idea of a diplomatic or military strategist, but it seems to me a solution has long been readily available to both sides, roughly as fellows.
Iran gets three things:
1) No regime change. Its leaders, whoever they are, may continue to oppress and occasionally murder their people.
2) Its nuclear enrichment program may quietly stay on course; they pretend they don’t have one and we pretend that’s true.
3) Another plane load of dollars arrives in Tehran in the middle of the night.
The United States gets: Iran’s oil-laden tankers are granted unrestrained access to the world’s markets via the newly renamed Strait of Trump.
The president’s son-in-law flies home to Miami and, stepping off his private jet, announces the deal while waving a piece of paper. The headlines read, “Peace In Our Time!”
Bob Hyde, Vero Beach
Where are Eisenhowers, Bushes or McCains when you need them?
My God! The corruption!
This administration has realized it can do pretty much whatever it wants, with no other form of our government holding it in check, except the non-Supreme Court judiciaries.
Looks like Republicans who fear Donald Trump’s retaliation are beginning to realize that if they had formed a team, they could have stood up to him and told Trump and his cohorts, “Not on our watch!” Now voters are reminding them that it wasn’t Trump who elected them to office, and though Trump can primary them out of office, voters still have the power to vote them out of office come November.
If only they remembered throughout their terms voters wanted results, and that even if we don’t have a mature adult in the White House, they could have acted like good guardians of the Constitution and this country’s values.
Remember when before his first election, Trump promised to release his tax returns after the election and never did? Now he’s tried suing (essentially) taxpayers because they were released against his wishes, and in his benevolence has reduced the amount from $10 billion to $1.776 billion, still to be paid for by taxpayers, at least initially for a fund for those who have been legally prosecuted.
I remember the McCarthy hearings in the 1950s and Chief Counsel Joseph Welch asking, “Have you no decency, Sir?” (Yes, I’m that old and did watch those hearings.)
Sorry, but I’m hoping every Republican who acted solely to appease Trump is voted out in 2026 and 2028. It’s time for the Republican Party to remove the Trumpism virus and return to its values.
Where are the Dwight Eisenhowers, the George H.W. Bushes, the John McCains? Instead we have an adolescent president who loves the UFC, who, like him, follows few rules or norms.
Anne Brakman, Vero Beach
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This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Stuart immigrant wrong to diss Florida agents. Trump deals | Opinion