Ian Valdes, the president of Florida International University’s Turning Point USA chapter, has stepped down after a series of racist, antisemitic, and homophobic messages from the group’s WhatsApp chat were leaked.
The leaks, dating between September and October 2025, show members of the organization founded by Charlie Kirk using the N-word more than 400 times and issuing a string of slurs against Black, Jewish, gay, and disabled people.
Highlights
- Florida International University’s Turning Point USA president Ian Valdes has resigned after the group’s leaked WhatsApp chats.
- The leaked messages, reportedly sent between September and October 2025, showed members using the N-word several times and making hateful remarks about Black, Jewish, LGBTQ+, and disabled people.
- The controversy has also put Miami-Dade GOP secretary Abel Carvajal under pressure, as he was the one who started the chat last year.
Women were also targeted in the group, where they were referred to as “wh*res.”
The group has since posted a statement on Instagram announcing the resignation of its president.
Florida International University’s Turning Point USA chapter in pickle as WhatsApp chat gets leaked
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The Miami Herald reported the leaked messages on Thursday, March 5, confirming that the group chat, in addition to Valdes, included several other conservative campus leaders like Miami-Dade Grand Old Party (Republican) secretary Abel Carvajal and former College Republicans recruitment chair Dariel Gonzalez.
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Another member of the chat was William Bajerano, who previously tried to start a pro-life group at Miami Dade College.
He was the primary user of the N-word in the group and, at one point, according to the outlet, posted a block of text calling for acts of extreme violence against Black people, including crucifixion, beheading, and dissection.
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Gonzalez, who was the sitting College Republicans’ recruitment chairman at the time, responded to it saying, “How edgy.”
In other texts spread out over several days, he went on to make remarks such as, “I refuse to be indoctrinated by the coloreds,” and “Avoid the coloreds like the plague.”
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At one point, the group chat directed hate toward Jewish women, advising members to have relationships with them but not consider marriage.
Ian Valdes added at the time: “I would def not marry a Jew.”
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Valdes also sounded off against immigration, according to The Miami Herald, saying, “We need to have a moratorium on immigration temporarily unless it’s someone from a first-world country.”
“I obviously mean whites,” he then clarified.
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Announcing Valdes’s resignation on Instagram, FIU’s TPUSA wing wrote: “The chapter president has stepped down from leadership, turned over social media, and we are currently reconstituting our leadership team.”
“Our chapter remains focused on fostering constructive conversation, supporting our members, and continuing our mission of engaging students in meaningful discussions,” it added.
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Abel Carvajal reportedly started the chat last year following the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
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Though he remains in place as Miami-Dade GOP secretary, the party’s board voted last week to request his resignation.
Another meeting to vote on Carvajal’s position is scheduled to take place soon
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Miami-Dade GOP chairman Kevin Cooper, in a statement condemning Abel Carvajal’s racist group chat, said: “His words and actions are reprehensible.”
Florida state representative and former Miami-Dade GOP chair Alex Rizo further revealed that a full party meeting to decide Carvajal’s fate within the camp will take place imminently, though he failed to provide a date.
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Another Republican state representative, Juan Porras, condemned the secretary and called for his resignation, as did GOP state senators Alexis Calatayud, Ileana Garcia, and Ana Maria Rodriguez.
Carvajal, however, has refused to step down.
He told The Miami Herald over the weekend that “no action has been taken to remove me from the board,” adding that “if you have been told otherwise, that is a blatant falsehood.”
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“I have received the support of countless members of the Miami-Dade executive committee who have known me for several years and know who I truly am,” he added.
The Florida International University TPUSA members being in the headlines because of their group chat, meanwhile, is not a new phenomenon.
A previous report showed them sharing not only racist jokes but also memes about s**ual violence
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Miami New Times in October 2018 revealed that members of FIU’s TPUSA joked about watching underage cartoon p**nography and deporting Latina women.
In one of the most disturbing cases, they shared racist Pepe the Frog memes depicting Syrian men a**aulting a white Swedish woman at gunpoint.
At one point, a prominent group member had to warn others in the chat not to use racial slurs or reference Richard Spencer.
Spencer, notably, is an avowed white nationalist known for advocating the creation of a white ethno-state.
"Right on brand for conservatives," a netizen remarked about the leaked FIU TPUSA chat
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