A Palm Bay city councilman was planning to file a First Amendment lawsuit after being censured Thursday night for anti-Indian comments on social media and misusing the city letterhead.
The City Council voted 3-2 to censure Councilman Chandler Langevin, a staunch Trump supporter who is strenuously anti-immigration.
The council resolution requires him to get a consensus before putting something on the agenda, silences him during commissioner comments and removes him from committees.
The city already sent a letter to the governor asking him to suspend Langevin from office. At issue are comments on X such as, "There's not a single Indian that cares about the United States," and a letter on city stationery seeking a pardon for white supremacist leader and convicted rioter Robert Rundo.
He also called for President Donald Trump to revoke all Indian visas and deport those immigrants immediately.
There was a public outcry against Langevin at a council meeting earlier this month. He said Thursday that he has also heard people in Palm Bay who support him.
In an Oct. 8 statement posted on X, Langevin apologized to "Patriotic Americans of the Hindu faith" but underscored his opposition to "all illegal immigration and most legal immigration."
'So tired' of this
At the meeting, Deputy Mayor Mike Jaffee made the motion for the censure. Jaffee said he's "so tired of talking about this. ... I just would ask Councilman Langevin, change your course, man. You know, we're City Council. We're not going to affect immigration laws on a national level."
Mayor Rob Medina said Langevin's a veteran -- and he thanked him for his service -- but said all kinds of people are woven into the fabric of the U.S. flag.
"And to isolate individuals that are also woven into that fabric is conduct unbecoming," Medina said. "And as you know, if you were to say something like this on active duty, you'd be standing on the carpet. And so this is our way of standing on the carpet."
'A dangerous precedent'
Langevin said he's OK with the censure and removal from committees, but not with being silenced.
"As soon as we start allowing councils to silence its members and take away their primary roles and responsibilities because we disagree with their speech or policy, we set a dangerous precedent," he said.
And that, Langevin said, would be un-American.
His lawyer, Lake County Commissioner Anthony Sabatini, posted the first page of their proposed federal lawsuit on social media. He said he expected to file it Friday night or Saturday morning.
