Miami-Dade civic leaders featured in billboard campaign supporting immigrant rights

Four prominent Miami-Dade County civic figures just unveiled a new billboard urging residents to defend their immigrant neighbors and uphold due process, dignity and humane treatment.

The display, installed at the heavily traveled intersection of Interstate 95 and the State Road 836 on-ramp in Miami, features Miami Dade College President Emeritus Dr. Eduardo Padrón; David Lawrence Jr., founding Chair of The Children’s Movement of Florida and a former Miami Herald publisher; veteran journalist Leticia Callava, formerly of Univision and Telemundo; and Michael Putney, a longtime former senior political reporter for WPLG Local 10.

Above them, a message in bold urges passersby to “Join Trusted Names We All Respect Defending Our Immigrant Neighbors.”

It’s the latest from Keep Them Honest, a Miami-based 501(c)(4) organization that ran billboard campaigns this year bashing federal lawmakers from South Florida for their immigration and fiscal policies and calling President Donald Trump a “wannabe dictator.”

The group describes the billboard as part of a countywide civic effort to elevate voices calling for compassion and accountability at a moment they say demands public engagement. Miami-Dade is home to a large immigrant population, and Keep Them Honest said Padrón, Lawrence, Callava and Putney chose to act both jointly and individually because many officials and institutions haven’t publicly addressed the issue.

“Today’s immigration policies and their heavy-handed enforcement have crossed moral and constitutional lines. People who have raised families, paid taxes and contributed to our community are being targeted by police and ICE agents hiding behind masks who ignore basic rights to humane treatment and due process of law,” the quartet said in a joint op-ed published in the Herald.

“To remain silent now, as our immigrant neighbors are vilified and denied basic due process, betrays everything that made this community great. We call on our fellow Miamians — civic leaders, business owners, educators, clergy and citizens — to find your courage and your voice.”

The four also recently launched messages across broadcast, digital and social media platforms, including four video spots platformed by Keep The Honest: “We All Came From Somewhere Else,” featuring Lawrence; “Justicia,” featuring Padrón; “Standing Up For America,” featuring Putney; and “Obligación,” featuring Callava.

The billboard and messaging campaigns come amid significantly heightened immigration enforcement under Trump, whose administration has expanded detention capacity and undertaken broader deportation operations and increased workplace raids.

Supporters of the administration say the policies are necessary to enforce federal law. Critics argue the approach sweeps up people with long-standing community ties and few resources to defend themselves in court.

Contrary to early assertions by some in Congress of what Trump’s policies on illegal immigration would look like, most of the undocumented immigrants being arrested and deported had no prior criminal conviction.

The nonprofit Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse found that 71.5% of detainees held in ICE custody as of Sept. 21 hadn’t been convicted of a crime, and many of those convicted were found guilty only of minor offenses such as traffic violations.

The billboard, visible to tens of thousands of daily commuters, is located on the west side of I-95 at NW 23rd Street, just east of 441.

The unveiling took place at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday. The display is expected to stay up for several weeks.

Juan-Carlos “J.C.” Planas, a Republican-turned-Democratic former state lawmaker who last year unsuccessfully ran for Miami-Dade Supervisor of Elections, is Keep Them Honest’s President, according to state filings.

Keep Them Honest is a 501(c)(4) organization, also known as a “dark money” group because it is not legally required to disclose its donors.