This Week in South Florida: Frederica Wilson

Congresswoman calls Border Patrol agents ‘racist white men’ and discusses receiving death threats

PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – The border at Del Rio, Texas is reopened and the migrant encampment is gone, but the outrage and confusion in South Florida is fresh and strong.

About 2,000 of the Haitian migrants from Del Rio are back in Haiti. More than 12,000 have been released provisionally into the U.S. They’ll eventually go before migrant judges.

Around 5,000 migrants are being detained by ICE, which will screen them, and many will likely be repatriated.

Congresswoman Frederica Wilson of Miami represents more Haitian Americans than any other member of congress, as South Florida is the home to the nation’s largest Haitian community.

She joined This Week in South Florida hosts Michael Putney and Glenna Milberg, and had some very strong words regarding the way Border Patrol agents are treating Haitian migrants.

“The Border Patrol are leftover racist white men who do not like immigrants, and what really made them angry is that these were black immigrants,” Wilson said.

During the conversation on TWISF, Wilson also discussed harassment she has faced after criticizing how children coming the border were being treated by agents.

“I’m a victim of the Border Patrol myself,” she explained. “For two years I was under strict security because of the Border Patrol and because of the way they were treating the children who were in the cages. I said they should be arrested and I began to get calls too my home that they were going to kill me.”

Rep. Willson’s full interview on TWISF can be seen at the top of this page.


About the Authors:

Glenna Milberg joined Local 10 News in September 1999 to report on South Florida's top stories and community issues. She also serves as co-host on Local 10's public affairs broadcast, "This Week in South Florida."