Murrieta’s Mayor Pro Tem Emailed Us to Share His Thoughts About the Immigration Protests

Earlier this morning, the main Latino Rebels email account received the following message:

Hello,

My name is Harry Ramos and I am Mayor Pro Tem of the city of Murrieta. I saw you guys had some stories about what is going on here so I thought I would reach out. If you guys ever want an update or some information please feel free to contact me. Keep up the good writing – I read some of your articles.

Respectfully submitted
Harry Ramos
City Of Murrieta, Mayor Pro Tem

So we checked Murrieta’s official page and Ramos was listed. The following picture of Ramos is from 2011:

We also checked to see what Ramos had to say about a recent statement from Murrieta’s City Manager regarding the latest immigration protests the whole country seems to be following. This is what Ramos said in a statement published by DailySoCal.com on July 6:

I was really taken aback by the comments made by the City Manager. I strongly disagree with much of his statement and characterization of what has happened within our city and his take on the people who exercised their constitutional rights. Despite this I do not begrudge the City Manager of his opinions; however, what disturbs me is the misuse of the city’s webpage to express those personal opinions that should have been reserved for his personal Facebook or any other media of his choosing.

Finally, I believe it is in bad taste to distort the situation and disparage the very citizens who pay the city’s salaries so I call on Mayor [Alan] Long to address the statements posted to the city’s page by the City Manager which was without Council approval.

So, we decided to email Ramos back. This is what one of our editors wrote:

Thanks for reaching out to us. Could you let us know what the real issue is here? We noticed you issued a statement about a message to the community on the murrieta site. What exactly was your objection to it and could you expand more from your statement since it was unclear. We would be more than happy to publish but we are not sure what your concern is.

Also since we are a global site, what does Mayor Pro Term mean?

LR

Hours later, we received the following reply:

Hi,

Pro Tem is short for Pro Tempore and it means that I fill in for the Mayor when his is not present – like a Vice Mayor also I am an elected official.

There were several statements I took exception to. I felt the City Manager was somewhat disingenuous with many statements, belittled the protesters and made a lot of personal statements on the City’s webpage.

I included his comments and highlighted and numbered some of the statements that rubbed me the wrong way.

1. I don’t think anyone came down to protest because of statements by the Mayor. The protests were already set to go. Also at that time and to this date no one at the city level has the manifests of who was on that bus. The only word the city was given was only family units will be on that bus. The protesters were protesting the policy not the people and all agreed it was inhumane to have people processed at that station.
2. Almost all the protesters were from Murrieta some from Temecula and Menifee both Cities border Murrieta.
3. Some did claim victory but to say it is a loss is an inflammatory statement. The press has portrayed Murrieta as an uncompassionate city when in fact the President’s policy is uncompassionate. Perhaps this is not the city he knows and love or maybe he really does not know this city.
4. The two sides the City Manager reference are quite frankly figments of his imagination and is offensive.
5. To suggest that Americans regardless if you agree with them or not peaceably protest gives any American city a black eye is ridiculous and is an attack on those who have a constitutional right to protest.
6. In my opinion this is the sadist [sic] statement an American can make. We the people have all the authority. I will grant the City Manager many Americans are derelict of their duties but this changes nothing. The city for about a month tried to stop this. We went through every channel we could. Whether you agree or not the fact remains that ordinary people very clearly said no. perhaps that should be the takeaway from all of this.

Thank you for getting back to me. If you want updates on what is really going on please let me know. Also I did apologize to Lupillo Rivera for getting spit on and invited him to City Hall to sit down and talk with me.

Our follow-up question:

Do you then approve of the signs and language used in the July 1 protest? Several racially coded terms were used that day. Where did the city stand on those signs?

Ramos’s reply:

Interesting question, even though I do not see the correlation between this question and my earlier comments. My two biggest complaint is one the City Manager is pushing a narrative that is not true but the press is trying to paint Murrieta as and two he is putting his personal opinion on a government site that is not a blog. Now specifically to answer your question I agree there were some ugly signs… on both sides and I don’t condone those signs or any racists signs whether in English or Spanish.

I will say this. I wonder if most of the protesters that are for this understand that if they win children will be crammed into jail cells that have no beds, no showers or eating facilities. they will have to eat on the floor next to the toilet and sleep on the same floor. Is that what they are fighting for? This issue in Murrieta is not about Immigration Reform but the press is trying to make it that!!! Nobody would dare cover the fact that the buses that diverted from Murrieta is a good thing for those kids.

Lastly, Latinos are being manipulated and used as pawns by Democrats and most don’t even realize it. We put our faith in Democrats when most of us have little in common with their thinking outside of maybe immigration reform. those Latino kids are being treated as animals and we should focus on that point. Democrats and Latinos are blaming Murrieta for this when they should be blaming the President!!

Us:

Thank you, do you have anything more to add? We plan to publish this conversation for our readers.

Ramos’s final email to us:

I guess thank you – This situation is so heartbreaking. These people are being treated as cattle and the federal government is lying about this situation and the health of these people. We all are so quick to jump to conclusions when we need to have a honest conversation not as Democrats or Republicans but as Americans.

Thank you again – I really like your page and what you guys are doing. If you have any other questions or want my input on another story feel free to contact me 🙂

We didn’t respond back to Ramos. We’re still figuring out why he reached out to us in the first place, but he did and he agreed to us sharing his comments with the rest of the world. So we did. 🙂

This is a June 30 press release from the City of Murrieta before the July 1 protests:

Here is a video of what Mayor Long said on June 30: