Weidong Zamora, 27, who came onto South Beach after a morning shift in the water, could already see people coming and going, and he wanted his new life to start soon. “I see people coming and going, looking for work, I see a lot of business people trying to come and go. I didn’t have any money, so I just stay here, I eat here. I just stay here.” —Luquillo De Guzman.
As the sun rose over the water, the first wave of business started to show up, with vendors hawking everything from tacos to fruit juices, and food stalls filled to capacity. An oil painter from Honduras, who came to the United States without papers and worked for a while in Florida, made a big splash in the crowd, with his brightly painted tattoos and his “I Am Guided by God” tattoo.
As the crowd waited for a train, dozens of young men with colorful tattoos and piercings in Miami-Dade County waved Mexican flags, some with handwritten captions of the new U.S. president-elect. It seemed like a melting pot — but some of the people who came to support Trump were wearing blue prison orange.
Josefiel Ramirez, a 26-year-old Mexican immigrant, saw the scene as an opportunity. He was there as part of an immigration-rights march organized by the Miami Dade NAACP, and says he thinks Trump’s presidency will make it easier for him and other immigrants to seek a legal immigration status.
“I am proud to be an American because I believe in our country,” he said.
Diversity not only drives diversity in Miami, the day after the election. In the days following the election, the city of Miami — home to several predominantly immigrant communities — saw a surge in Hispanics and a strong uptick in the number of Latinos and African-Americans voting.
Hip hop artist J Balvin on Tuesday night performed in front of the Miami-Dade county jail. (Photo: Carlos Barria, AP)
“In terms of voting, in terms of making sure a person’s voice is acknowledged, it means there are a lot of new faces,” said David Yarbrough, of the Miami-Dade County NAACP’s Miami branch. “You have to hear them, and you have to see them when you see them.”
On Tuesday, the city’s immigrant and immigrant