A Providence city councilor who doubled as an associate in Governor Dan McKee’s constituent affairs office was fired from his job on Friday. In an interview with The Public’s Radio, Miguel Sanchez said he was presented with a choice to either resign or be fired, after The Providence Journal called attention to tweets he posted calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Palestine.
Sanchez, 25, had been posting tweets and re-tweets in support of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, the body that governs the Gaza Strip section of the Palestinian Territories. The groups have been fighting since Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1400 people and taking around 200 hostages. In retaliation, Israel has launched air raids, and most recently a ground invasion, that have collectively led to the deaths of over 8,000 people, which the Gaza Ministry of Health says are mostly women and minors. The United Nations has said Israel’s response has bordered on genocide.
Despite the UN’s condemnations, most top political leaders around the country and Rhode Island have expressed support for Israel and have not called for a ceasefire. Sanchez’s stance is a break with theirs.
“That’s kind of why I’ve been so vocal, because most mainstream politicians in this country, in the state have been very one-sided,” he said.
President Joe Biden is calling for an aid package that will in part provide more military support to Israel.
Sanchez says his superiors first began mentioning his tweets on Oct. 23, after he attended a rally in support of a ceasefire. He said the legislative director told him people were “reaching out and wondering.” Sanchez says they mutually agreed he would tone down his posts. Then, he says, mentions of his tweets at the office intensified after The Providence Journal informed the staff it was writing a story about his posts on Oct. 24. Sanchez says a communications staffer advised him not to comment and to let the story die. The story was published on Oct. 25.
The following day, Sanchez says his superiors asked if his posts were taken down. But Sanchez says that at no point did anyone in Gov. McKee’s office explicitly ask him to take his tweets down, or tell him there would be serious consequences if he continued speaking out about the violence in Gaza.
“The only thing they did was ask me what my personal preference was in taking down the posts,” Sanchez said.
The Providence Journal declined to comment for this story.
In an interview with The Public’s Radio, Sanchez said his life will be difficult financially until he can get a new job, but that it was worth it to take a stance for what he believes in. Sanchez remains a Providence city councilor.
On Friday, Oct. 27, Sanchez says he was called into Chief of Staff Antonio Afonso’s office, where he was fired.
“Going into the meeting, we were getting reports that the ground invasion was starting over there. And I was just like, ‘Yeah, I can’t backpedal at this point,’ like, I definitely got to use my position to, to stand for what I believe in” Sanchez said. “I think what a lot of Americans believe in is, if there’s not a ceasefire, if there’s not a pause on what’s going on, thousands and thousands of Palestinian innocent civilians are going to keep getting murdered. So that definitely outweighed my personal difficulties.”
Over the weekend, Israel’s ground invasion did begin, during which the Israeli government cut off internet connection in the Gaza Strip.
In an emailed statement to The Public’s Radio about the firing, McKee’s office said the governor condemns “the despicable acts of war and terror perpetrated by Hamas against the people of Israel.” He did not comment on Israel’s attacks against Palestinian territories.
Sanchez said he was left confused. He said that, although there was an unwritten office policy to not voice opinions that are in opposition to the governor’s, as a Providence city councilor he had done that on many occasions in the past, and never had any trouble during the roughly 2.5 years in his position in the governor’s office.
“This definitely wasn’t the first time I’ve tweeted or spoken out on something that the governor definitely isn’t aligned,” Sanchez said. “I’ve never even had conversations with anyone about my stances on specific issues, even ones that are pretty pressing.”
Sanchez said he asked for additional time to take his tweets down while he was being fired. When the office said no, he asked if he could speak to the human resources department about what the difference between being fired and resigning would be. In the end, he said the office chose for him, firing him during the Oct. 27 meeting.
“The senior deputy chief of staff and Capitol Police walked me to my office to gather a few things. And then the Capitol police officers walked me out of the State House,” Sanchez said.
He said his salary was $50,000 from the Governor’s office, plus a $20,000 stipend for serving as a city councilor. He said he’ll be struggling financially after being let go.
“I’m probably going to DoorDash for the next couple of weeks while I look for something, apply for unemployment,” Sanchez said. “It definitely is going to be pretty crappy. But I have a lot of friends and family that will support or chip in a meal here and there.”
Sanchez said he has been getting many text messages of support from people he says are afraid to speak out.
Governor McKee’s office did not respond to Sanchez’s telling of events or offer additional comment on his firing.
Metro Reporter Olivia Ebertz can be reached at olivia@thepublicsradio.org.
