Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk, Florida International University and Very, Very Bad Students
By Philip Cardella March 5, 2026
Florida International University, Miami, Florida
The organization Kirk founded is associated with a violently racist, antisemitic, sexist group chat on FIU campus
Triggered by a report by The Floridian, which acquired access to a group chat that included Turning Point USA's Florida International University's chapter president saying, “I would def not marry a Jew lmao,” multiple local news agencies picked up on the story, including the Miami New Times and the Miami Herald.
The group chat, which was created by the Miami-Dade County GOP Secretary Abel Alexander Carvajal dripped with anti-semitism and racism, using the N-word over 200 times over the span of several weeks in the fall of 2025 and celebrated the removal of an African-American activist from the FIU College Republicans.
Per the Floridian's reporting (warning– The Floridian's coverage includes screenshots of the chat, which uses extraordinarily vile, demeaning, racist, sexist and antisemitic language, clicking on the link is cautioned):
Carvajal’s chat, titled “Uber Retards Yapping Inc.,” gives a shocking glimpse into the GOP’s younger element of college students who espouse hateful ideas. Even more concerning are the chat’s members: Carvajal, who is Secretary of the Miami-Dade GOP; Dariel Gonzalez, who is the FIU College Republicans Membership Director; and Ian Valdes, the FIU Turning Point chapter president.
Javier Manjarres
According to the Floridian's report, the chat revealed a coordinated effort by the group to destabilize the Miami-Dade County Republican Party, which includes many Jewish members and leaders.
Again, quoting the Floridian's report:
[A] participant identified as Dariel urges action against the party’s current chairman, writing, “Your new purpose is to fire [Miami GOP Chairman],” followed moments later by, “And replace him.”
Rather than rejecting the suggestion, Miami GOP Secretary Abel Alexander Carvajal appears to encourage the effort, responding, “We might get there soon,” and later adding, “Soon buddy soon!!” The conversation suggests that Carvajal was not merely participating in the chat but engaging with individuals who were openly discussing a plan to remove the sitting chairman and install new leadership—raising serious concerns that party officials were using fringe activists and hostile rhetoric as part of a broader effort to undermine and destabilize the party’s leadership.
Carvajal, when asked about the chat, said that he hadn't paid much attention to the early days of the chat and "[H]ad I known and had I seen some of these messages I would have called the police," said Carvajal. When asked by the Floridian if he would resign is position with the local Republican group, Carvajal stated, "No. Of course not. Of course not, for you know, for a chat where the messages that were stated were not mine."
From the Herald's report on the chat:
Another member of the chat, William Bejerano — who tried to start a pro-life group at Miami Dade College — was the primary user of the n-word in the group. At one point, he posted a block of text calling for dozens of acts of extreme violence against Black people, who he referred to using the n-word, including crucifying, beheading and dissecting people. Bejerano hung up the phone when reached by the Herald.
Dariel Gonzalez, the College Republicans’ recruitment chairman at the time, responded in the chat: “How edgy.”
“Ew you had colored professors?!” Gonzalez wrote at another point. “I reguse [sic] to be indoctrinated by the coloreds.” He told the group he used the term “colored” because, “I was told we cant say black anymore.” A couple days later, he added: “Avoid the coloreds like the plague.” He did not respond to a request for comment.
The conclusion of the Herald's report–I recommend reading the entire story for the best coverage of this:
At one point in the group chats last fall, various members debated how to describe a woman, with Gonzalez, the former recruitment chair, using terms like “half breed” and “mongrel,” to which Valdes, the Turning Point chapter president, responded, “If this chat gets leaked we’re so cooked lmao.”
“This isnt even my worst one,” Gonzalez responded.
Valdes said: “I’m in a few on telegram that are definitely worse.”
I will note that the Miami-Dade County Republican Party is a heavy supporter of the Student Senate at FIU (the MDC Democratic Party through newly elected Mayor of Miami Eileen Higgins) is now trying to respond with heavy support to offset the GOP support). FIU's student government has veered strongly to the right over the last few years with the help of the county GOP, which is connected to the campus by the man who created the chat in the first place, MDC GOP Secretary Carvajal.
Not necessarily coincidentally, the administration of a local public high school today in Miami stormed into a classroom trying to locate which student had turned on a wifi hotspot called, "IhateN******Jews****." At the time of writing, the school still hadn't located the culprit, but its hard to accept that with the news out of the public university literally up the road from the school about the racist/sexist/antisemitic What's App chat isn't connected.
Meanwhile, Florida International University's President, Jeanette M. Nunez, the former Lieutenant Governor under Ron DeSantis, sent this email to the FIU community on 5 March 2026 condemning the chat and promising investigate it.
Members of the Miami Republican Party joined Democrats in denouncing the chat and the Miami-Dade Republican Party's executive board, as of 7:00 PM on Thursday, has voted to "request the resignation" of Secretary Abel Carvajal, pending the state party's approval. I'll update this if things change.
Sergio R. Bustos
I could go on, on this topic but it's best that folks read the articles I've provided. I do think it is important to make sure people are aware of it and the connections to the other two stories from the first week in March 2026.
Update: The Miami Herald's Mary Anna Mancuso has published an op-ed on the situation.
The Florida Congress is Set to Name the Street FIU Sits on "Charlie Kirk Memorial Avenue"
The Floridian's story about the vile group chat connected to the campus GOP and Turning Points USA chapter members, appeared on 4 March 2026, the same day that the Florida State Senate passed legislation that will name the road Florida International University, site of the vile chat that the President of Charlie Kirk's Turning Point USA participated in, "Charlie Kirk Memorial Avenue."
To be clear, the name change is honorary and does not officially change the name of the street, though the signage on the street will reflect the honor. Also, if you're not in Florida, it seems like every major street in South Florida has at least one honorary name associated with it on the street signs, which is much more common here than any of the other regions I've lived in. So, naming a street after someone isn't unusual.
For example, 27th Avenue, which for a time was the metropolis' western boundary, is also known as Unity Blvd throughout the county on all official signs, in honor of a visit by Pope John Paul the Second.
West 107th, the street in question, has many names, including State Road 985 (SR 985), FIU Avenue, and Avenue of the Americas.
Per Florida Politics, a website that reports on, well, politics in Florida:
Opponents of the measure argued that Kirk, who owned a vacation home in Longboat Key in Sarasota County, had little tangible connections to Florida or Miami-Dade. They also raised issues with Kirk’s rhetoric, including questions he raised about the qualifications of Black pilots, references to “prowling Blacks” targeting White people in urban areas and his perpetuation of the “great replacement theory.”
While two thirds of the links in the quote are pretty clear, a reminder of what the Great Replacement Theory is per the Southern Poverty Law Center:
The “great replacement” theory is inherently white supremacist. It depends on stoking fears that a non-white population, which the theory’s proponents characterize as “inferior,” will displace a white majority. It is also antisemitic. Some proponents of the “great replacement” do not explicitly attribute the plot to Jews. Instead, they blame powerful Jewish individuals such as financier and philanthropist George Soros or use coded antisemitic language to identify shadowy “elites” or “globalists.”
Opponents of naming the street after Kirk are right to point out that Kirk has few ties to the Miami campus, he certainly has fans there as the campus memorial service honoring him after his assassination last year drew a large crowd.
Ebiere Orusa
Still, it's worth asking why this honor is being bestowed upon the largest hispanic-serving institution in the world when the Florida University system includes several other schools including Florida State University and the University of Florida?
This creates an uncomfortable connection with the horrifying group chat that included student leaders of the Turning Points USA chapter at FIU.
Florida House votes to limit international students at preeminent state research schools in Florida
Continuing a theme, on 3 March 2026, the Florida House passed HB 1279, which limits the non-U.S. citizen enrollment to 5% from any one country of the total enrollment of any school and punishes schools that don't reserve at least 95% of seats for Florida residents.
Jonathan Ruadez
Florida International University, which has dominated independent rankings and even the state's own rankings despite multiple changes to how those rankings some officials at FIU have claimed are calculated in a way to diminish the school's successes, is likely to be hit hardest among the schools as it's primary mission is to serve a county where less than half of the population was born in the United States.
Florida International University is also the largest four year degree offering Hispanic Serving Institution in the world (in the link, look at the total students served–the link ranks the schools by percentage).
It's been an ugly week at the nation's pre-eminent international university
The through line of these three stories appears to be that the nation's top ranked, internationally focused university is facing internal pressures from students and external pressures from the state to shed the heart of its name, "international."
Clearly, to some, this may be a welcome change, even in a Miami-Dade County that is as rich as any place in the world in international diversity.
To others, this may feel like an attack on who they are.
Racism, antisemitism and sexism can rot in the pit of hell from which they came.
