Soon-to-be Interim City Manager Kim Tolbert’s resurfaced social media activity has raised questions about her priorities as one of Dallas’ chief executives.
Tolbert has liked numerous tweets supporting anti-gun restrictions and policies that allegedly encourage unlawful migration.
One such social media post, made by Assistant City Manager Liz Cedillo-Pereira, stated, “As the anniversary of DACA is today, I acknowledge the incredible young people whom I’ve had the honor of knowing who’ve given everything to our country and still await the moment for full reciprocity.”
Pereira previously served as the chief of the City’s Office of Equity & Inclusion, according to her LinkedIn profile.
DACA is short for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. It is an Obama-era policy still in effect that allows the federal government to eschew pursuing deportation proceedings for unlawful migrants who were brought to the United States as children. The program has drawn the ire of many. Former President Donald Trump previously attempted to end the program before the Supreme Court struck down his orders, The New York Times reported.
“Many of the people in DACA, no longer very young, are far from ‘angels.’ Some are very tough, hardened criminals,” Trump previously posted on social media.
During Tolbert’s tenure as chief of staff to the city manager in 2018, prominent immigration lawyers identified Dallas as a sanctuary city despite local officials not formally adopting the designation. Sanctuary cities are municipalities that purportedly do not comply with federal immigration law or coordinate with federal agencies to ensure unlawful migrants are deported. In response to Dallas’ and other jurisdictions’ de facto immigration policies, the state legislature passed SB 4 in 2017 to force compliance with federal immigration law.
Other social media activity shows Tolbert’s political sympathies with March For Our Lives, an organization aimed at ending gun violence through anti-gun measures. March For Our Live’s website calls for the president to unilaterally take stricter action regarding firearms through the ATF and similar organizations.
Additionally, Tolbert liked numerous posts on X after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, supporting protesters who claimed to be seeking “justice” in DFW.
Tolbert also liked videos of Dallas police kneeling to show solidarity with an agitated group of Black Lives Matter protesters who had concentrated their protests on the detachment of officers. Some of these posts originated from Council Member Cara Mendelsohn (District 12). Others originated from U. Reneé Hall, Dallas’ former police chief,f who resigned in 2020 after being criticized for how she handled local demonstrations against the killing of George Floyd.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Tolbert’s social media activity has raised questions about her relationship with Dallas police and her views of law enforcement. Tolbert has previously engaged with videos of a little girl and others chanting “No Justice, No Peace” as riots swept the nation in the spring of 2020 and regularly interacts with content produced by author Ben Crump, who has a rather dim view of law enforcement.
Crump is the author of a 2019 book titled Open Season: Legalized Genocide of Colored People, which uses the deaths of George Floyd and Breonne Taylor as evidence that police are instruments of genocide against black Americans. Some of Crump’s content that Tolbert has liked includes comments from Crump paired with videos that accuse police of killing black men without justification.
DX has also covered numerous instances in which Tolbert has supported the removal of historic monuments. Tolbert attended a protest to remove Dallas’ famed statue of Robert E. Lee. She also liked tweets from then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) supporting the removal of Justice Roger Taney’s statue from the Capitol and a Fox 4 KDFW story about taking down a Texas Ranger statue at Dallas Love Field Airport.
Tolbert’s professional interests have long been oriented toward “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) programs, DX reported. Many of her social media posts and a significant portion of her professional appearances were in support of DEI programs. In one post, Tolbert is pictured discussing Dallas’ “Racial Equity Plan” at the National Forum for Black Public Administrators.
Tolbert is currently deputy city manager in the embattled administration of outgoing City Manager T.C. Broadnax, who recently turned in his resignation following years of concerns regarding persistent issues with City services, as previously reported by DX. Broadnax’s administration has overseen increases in taxation, municipal spending, and crime. Concerns have also been raised about the security of sensitive City data and permitting backlogs under Broadnax.
Residents repeatedly registered their dissatisfaction in polling, signaling their concern about the effectiveness of efforts to curb homelessness and crime and to deliver basic services. The Dallas City Council recommended that Tolbert replace Broadnax as interim city manager while the search for a permanent replacement continues.
The Dallas Morning News reported that her candidacy for the position was supported by a coalition of organizations, including NAACP Dallas, the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce, and the South Dallas/Fair Park Faith Coalition. This has led some to object to the perceived nature of Tolbert’s selection and has raised concerns about her becoming city manager permanently.
Still, Tolbert’s supporters have stood behind her.
“We want the City Council to know this is who we support,” Sharon Middlebrooks of the Dallas NAACP told DMN. “All too often we’ve been left out of the equation, and the best way to combat any situation is up front.”
“This is a great situation to pull out the team member who can really guide the city through this tumultuous moment,” Harrison Blair, president of the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce, told DMN. “We need someone who can make sure we don’t have a brain drain from all of our departments at one time just because we don’t have stability at the top spot because the mayor and council can’t get along with the city’s top employee.”
DX reached out to Tolbert for comment but did not receive a response by publication.