BREAKING: City of Fellsmere Slams Political PAC for Describing Community As “a Sanctuary City” in Disingenuous Mailer
On behalf of Fellsmere, City Manager, Mark D. Mathes responds to false allegations. Candidates for Sheriff and County Commission react.
Fellsmere City Manager, Mark D. Mathes, issued a statement rejecting how the PAC, Floridians for Ethics and Truth in Politics, described Fellsmere as a “sanctuary city.”
The short statement was titled, “City of Fellsmere Reputation Impugned.”
Mr. Mathes’s stated, “The City of Fellsmere has become aware of a mailed flyer containing a publicly distributed statement claiming that the City of Fellsmere has created a ‘sanctuary city for illegal immigrants in Fellsmere,’” adding, “The statement also claims that employees of the City ‘won’t enforce the law in Fellsmere.’ The City of Fellsmere denounces these allegations.”
Reached for comment by The Sunshine Journal, Mr. Mathes said, “The larger community may not know the [City of Fellsmere] as well. They might believe these false statements. I felt a need to set the record straight.”
Commissioner, Susan Adams, who calls Fellsmere home, commented, “I concur with Mark’s statement. The City has never been a sanctuary city and has never had any conversations or discussions about becoming a sanctuary city.”
Susan Adams is in a re-election campaign for her district 1 seat which represents Fellsmere. Her challenger, Tim Borden, concurred with Mr Mathes. He commented, “I agree with Mark’s statement. We must protect the residents of Indian River County with Law and Order.”
The statement by Mr. Mathes continued, “The Fellsmere Police Department, under the leadership of Chief of Police Keith Touchberry, while having no legal authority to enforce immigration laws, has always taken a proactive approach to illegal immigration, and partnered with Federal authorities whenever possible to identify and process illegal aliens who are eligible for removal.”
Candidate for Sheriff, Chief Touchberry, said, “ We stand on our record of working proactively with immigration officials to help enforce federal immigration laws in our community.”
The referenced Facebook post on the bright yellow mailer is from 2017. The lifted copy is completely out of context. In their first term, the Trump administration cracked down on illegal immigration. Their purpose was to target illegal immigrants who have committed any sort of crime. Compare that to the Obama administration who only sought deportation for illegal immigrants who committed crimes against public safety and national security. The Facebook post reads in that context.
From the text of the Facebook post on May 22, 2017:
“We, the members of the Fellsmere Police Department come in contact with undocumented immigrants on a daily basis and as a rule, do nothing to seek their deportation. We do not seek their deportation because we believe that the vast majority of undocumented immigrants are hardworking people who obey the law and just want to improve their quality of life. We do not seek their deportation because that would deter us from our primary mission: “to protect our community from harm, assist those in need of service, and help bring justice to victims”. We do not seek their deportation because it is not in keeping with the current Executive Order from the President that prioritizes the removal of immigrants who are affiliated with criminal activity.”
The City of Fellsmere was in alignment with Trump policy on illegal immigration in 2017.
A few days prior, Floridians for Ethics and Truth in Politics released their first mailer quoting from the Press Journal in 2017. The article clearly shows the same approach of local law enforcement policy on immigration all along the Treasure Coast. Yet, the mailer falsely accuses Chief Touchberry about being soft on immigration laws framing his comments to the Press Journal from 7 years ago. Again, Trump policy set the parameters of federal enforcement. In the 2/5/17 Press Journal article, Chief Touchberry told the Press Journal at the time, “Our Priority is our local laws. Determining a person’s immigration status is not our first concern. But if you have a DUI and we find you’re not a citizen, you’ll be processed for that,” adding, “If there is a mandate from Washington, we will follow it, but we hope it would come with some funding.”
At the time, the Trump administration was considering restoring a program to deputize local law enforcement to enforce federal immigration laws.
Chief Touchberry is the only candidate in the race who has not received outside PAC help from local or other self-proclaimed conservative front organizations in Florida who specialize in last minute electioneering tactics. Both mailers featured a 2019 picture of an MS-13 gang somewhere in South America from a Latin American digital newspaper, Infobae. The Sunshine Journal reported on the funding of the mailers here. Some money was traced back to the Friends of Milo Thornton PAC. Reached for comment, Mr. Thornton responded, “I agree with the City Manager’s letter. I run a positive and clean campaign. I condemn these dirty politics. I wasn’t aware of these mailers until people brought them to my attention. I do not condone this type of behavior.”
Being the City Manager, Mr. Mathes shared that Fellsmere remains neutral regarding campaigns. “We try to be as transparent as possible in Fellsmere,” he said. His statement was about protecting their community’s identity. Mr. Mathes closed the statement by saying, “The City of Fellsmere is a vibrant community in western Indian River County with a storied past and a promising future and takes exception to the ramifications these false claims may have on its reputation as a municipality, and its ability to attract and retain residents, pursue development and acquire grant funds.”
Will the fallout from this political episode put a stop to this type of unethical electioneering? You would hope it would do so, especially from a PAC named Floridians for Ethics and Truth in Politics. Chief Touchberry remarked, “It’s unfortunate that such an attack like this could adversely impact the community.”
That is a shame that the city was so falsely accused and it is good that it clarified its position. Sanctuary cities become so by will, vote, mandate, proclamation and policy. If Fellsmere has done none of that it is not a sanctuary city, and especially if the police department does cooperate with ICE when so called upon or necessary. Many illegal immigrants have in fact moved into Fellsmere for the type of rural work there that many of them are used to. That all being said, good, hard, working people or not they broke the law and are straining our country in many ways while potential immigrants in their home countries trying to come here legally now wait even longer to do so because of these trespassers, who defied our laws and cut ahead of them in line. As with borders, countries have immigration laws for very substantial and necessary reasons. As they enter our country in such large numbers they also provide cover for those illegal immigrants who are far more nefarious and dangerous. Hopefully, Trump will be re-elected and rule of law will be restored, beginning with the closing of our borders, mass deportations and deputizing local and state law enforcement with the same authority as that of ICE. And as usual, well written article.