Miami police and leadership assured the public on Monday that precautions would be in place ahead of former President Donald Trump's arrival at a southern Florida courthouse for his arraignment.
The Justice Department unveiled a 49-page indictment on Friday that indicted Trump on 37 counts for federal charges related to alleged obstruction and mishandling of classified documents. Trump is expected to appear at the courthouse in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida at 3 p.m. EDT.
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"I can assure all our residents, all our stakeholders, and visitors that are in the city at this time that we are working very closely with our federal, state, and local partners to make sure that we have a comprehensive approach, right? That is going to ensure that we maintain not only peace and order ... but that everyone has the right to express themselves and their First Amendment rights," Miami Police Chief Manny Morales said during a press conference on Monday.
Morales said he knew there was a potential for things to "take a turn for the worst" but said that was "not the Miami way."
"We have extremely high confidence of the residents and the folks that live here in the city of Miami. They are used to demonstrating, they're used to exercising their First Amendment rights, and they are incredibly respectful and supportive of law enforcement here in South Florida," he said.
The Miami Police Department did not reach out to the National Guard in preparation for Trump's arrival, Morales said, and he also added that logistics downtown make it harder to create separate areas for protesters and supporters.
When asked if Trump's supporters would be able to "go anywhere they want" around the courthouse and nearby areas, Morales said, "That's what the freedom of speech is."
"If we begin to see that there's opposing parties, we'll, at that time, make sure that they're separated, and there's plenty of officers on the scene to make sure that we maintain the safety and security of all," the city's police chief said.
Federal Protective Service Police officers began taping off areas outside the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. U.S. Courthouse on Monday ahead of the former president's arrival.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said he had not spoken to the former president ahead of his appearance when asked if he would ask Trump to speak to his supporters about protesting peacefully.
However, Suarez said he has "full faith" that the police department will have the "right action plan" to prevent any incidents of civil unrest or violence as they have in the past, citing the protests in 2020 over George Floyd's death.
"We gave people a space to express themselves without unnecessarily creating confrontations. In that moment, in that particular case, we had a curfew that we implemented. We had a variety of different resources that we use that I thought were different than other cities in America. And they allowed us to de-escalate without creating incidents, and so, I think we'll be able to use those tactics again," Suarez said.
Nearly 100 Trump supporters, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), arrived in New York City to protest the Manhattan grand jury's indictment of Trump in April, when he was charged with 33 counts of falsifying business records to hide hush-money payments.
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No protests have been brought to Morales's attention at this time, but he said Miami law enforcement would be bringing enough resources to handle between 5,000 to 50,000 people. Morales said he does not expect any problems at this time and that residents and visitors should not be worried.
"I think the chief has been clear that we're taking this very seriously and that we are prepared for what will happen tomorrow. And that, as he's indicated, we have a lot of experience in protests of this magnitude," Suarez said.