Screenshots via Gab, Twitter
Audio By Carbonatix
Y’know what they say, if you can’t stand the heat, get off social media.
After Republican State Sen. Ileana Garcia of District 37, which includes Miami-Dade County, told people to “move on” from racism on the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and then voted against an amendment to a proposed 15-week abortion ban bill that would make exceptions for rape and incest survivors, she seems to have suddenly deactivated her Twitter and Facebook accounts.
It’s unclear when Garcia deactivated the accounts – @IleanaGarciaUSA on Twitter, @SenIleanaGarciaFL on Facebook – but people began tweeting yesterday about the “Something went wrong” and “the page may have been removed” error messages when trying to visit her pages.
Rep. Anna Eskamani was one of the first to notice that Garcia’s social media accounts suddenly went dark, posting at 1:27 p.m. yesterday: “Looks like Senator Ileana Garcia deleted her Facebook and Twitter accounts…. Reminder that this is a Senator who won her election via the fake candidate scheme that took place in 3 State Senate races.”
Looks like Senator Ileana Garcia deleted her Facebook and Twitter accounts 🤔
Here’s the FB Link that doesn’t work anymore… https://t.co/9Vbv2taxmZ
Reminder that this is a Senator who won her election via the fake candidate scheme that took place in 3 State Senate races. pic.twitter.com/9nUZZYK9hD
— Rep. Anna V. Eskamani 🔨 (@AnnaForFlorida) February 3, 2022
Peter Schorsch, Florida Politics publisher, tweeted, “Where you at Ileana?” and noted that “it’s never a good sign” when a state senator abruptly deactivates their accounts in the middle of a legislative session.
It’s never a good sign when a state Senator de-activates their Twitter account in the middle of Legisalative Session.
Where you at Ileana? pic.twitter.com/KqUNeWERGQ
— Peter Schorsch (@PeterSchorschFL) February 3, 2022
As of Friday afternoon, her Instagram account is still up, along with her accounts on the fringe social-media platforms Gab and Parler.
Garcia didn’t respond to New Times‘ request for comment via email. Her office hasn’t released a statement or offered an explanation.
Garcia, who cofounded the group Latinas for Trump, has managed to become involved in a string of controversies since winning her senate seat in November 2020 by a razor-thin margin thanks to a scheme to plant a “ghost” no-party candidate in her race with the same last name as that of her competitor, Democrat José Javier Rodríguez. (Florida Democrats later demanded her resignation, to no avail.)
Garcia has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the shenanigans. But former Miami Republican Sen. Frank Artiles faces felony charges in connection with recruiting and illegally funding the bogus candidate, Alexis “Alex” Rodriguez, helping to secure Garcia’s win by a margin of 32 votes.
After her interview with CBS4 investigative reporter Jim DeFede aired on the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Garcia offended a number of Black lawmakers with her comments telling people to “move on” from racism.
During that interview, when DeFede asked Garcia if she thought the experience of Black people is different from hers or his (both DeFede and Garcia are white), she said: “No, not at all,” and cited President Obama’s election and re-election as evidence to the contrary. “That’s why we had Obama as president. That’s the best example in the world,” she told DeFede. “Obama was president not for four years, for eight.”
Earlier this week, Garcia was among a group of Florida Republicans who rejected a move to create exceptions to the restrictive abortion GOP bill making its way through the legislature. She had clarified her stance a few days earlier in another interview with DeFede.
“Are you saying that you believe that a victim of rape or incest or human trafficking, who ends up having a child, should be required to carry the child to term?” DeFede asked.
“I think that that is something that they should definitely consider,” she replies. “Because once again, if a child is born out of that unfortunate situation, they are in no way shape or form a second-class citizen.”
When DeFede clarified that the right to an abortion for survivors of rape and incest was more about protecting them from the trauma of carrying their abuser’s child to term, Garcia didn’t waver: “I am very much a pro-life person.”
If you would like to get in touch with Sen. Ileana Garcia, you can try calling 305-442-6841, emailing garcia.ileana.web@flsenate.gov, or visiting her Miami office at 2828 Coral Way, Ste. 208, in Coral Gables.
Garcia’s DMs on Instagram are still open, though she has yet to respond to New Times‘ DM requesting comment.
