A close friend of the Donald Trump-backed MAGA star aiming to be the next governor of Florida is fighting deportation after a DUI arrest, PunchUp has revealed in a new report.
Byron Donalds pal and political ally, Vlastimil “Pat” Jira, a businessman from Naples, Florida—who co-founded the Collier County Young Republicans with the Florida representative, 47—was arrested in December 2023 and charged with possession of cocaine with intent to sell or distribute and with DUI, reports the Beast’s sister investigative Substack. The arrest was covered in the media.
Having pleaded no-contest to both counts, the DUI resulted in a guilty adjudication, and the cocaine charge was adjudicated withheld.
ICE detained Jira on Feb. 10 this year while he was reporting to his probation officer, PunchUp reported, as he was allegedly living in the country illegally.
A GoFundMe organized on behalf of Donalds’ senior political adviser Larry Wilcoxson—titled “Help Bring Pat Jira Back Home”—states Jira had moved to the United States at age 5 from the Czech Republic. He was held at Krome North SPC in Miami, with the GoFundMe stating he was due to be transferred to its sister facility, “Alligator Alcatraz.”
Last July, Donalds stood alongside Trump, 79, at “Alligator Alcatraz,” the notorious Everglades immigration jail, as the president declared: “Very soon, this facility will house some of the most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet.”
Jira was released from Krome North last week, days after an April 6 community fundraiser for his legal fees, dubbed “JiraFest,” which Wilcoxson attended. Jira posted an Instagram reel to mark his freedom, prompting one organizer to post: “Survived Alcatraz.”
He is still understood to be facing a deportation hearing, according to PunchUp.
The report documents more than a decade of ties between Jira and Donalds. A September 2020 Facebook post from the Collier County Young Republicans names Donalds, his wife Erika, Wilcoxson, and Jira as co-founders of the group.
Photos reviewed by PunchUp show the men together at political events, social gatherings, and campaign engagements throughout—some featuring Donalds in branded campaign clothing.
A May 2025 Instagram post captioned by Jira reads: “With the next governor of The Great State of Florida.... @byrondonalds. #TeamDonalds Est2010,” more than a year after Jira’s December 2023 cocaine arrest, and long after its subsequent coverage in the press.
The connections run deeper still, PunchUp notes. Florida Secretary of State records show Wilcoxson and Jira as co-members of Jiralovemedia LLC, filed on Dec. 2, 2024—a full year after Jira’s arrest. The company was dissolved in September 2025.
The Daily Beast reported in July 2025 that Wilcoxson—who has described Donalds as a “brother away from home”—had in 2006 been charged with child molestation while he worked as a teacher in Indianapolis, Indiana, although charges were later dropped. Wilcoxson told the Beast that he “never harmed anyone.”
In an example that the Beast said raised questions around Donalds’ vetting of his advisers, it was revealed Wilcoxson had been paid more than $300,000 in consulting fees and campaign reimbursements in the previous four years. The Donalds’ campaign said at the time that Wilcoxson would not be a paid consultant for the gubernatorial race.
But his opponents dispute that the break is genuine, notes PunchUp. Lt. Gov. Jay Collins’ campaign posted last week: “Byron’s BFF and senior advisor Larry Wilcoxson, who Byron lies about having cut off. They’re still inseparable.”
PunchUp’s revelations compound an already difficult stretch for Donalds, the Trump-endorsed gubernatorial hopeful who has raised more than $45 million for a campaign that has seen him back the president’s mass deportations, including in the Florida district where Jira lived, was arrested, and detained by ICE.
As CBS News Miami reported last month, Donalds confirmed in an interview that he was not merely in possession of marijuana when arrested at 18—he was dealing narcotics “for a period of time, low level amounts.”
He is currently sponsoring the DC CRIMES bill, which critics say would strip young offenders of the second-chance sentencing provisions that kept a felony off his own record—and off Jira’s.
A 2021 CPAC interview, now being circulated by rivals, shows him appearing to endorse a pathway to citizenship for people in the country illegally. Donalds, however, said he has “never supported a pathway to citizenship.”
Donalds, Jira, Wilcoxson, and ICE all failed to respond to requests for comment from the Daily Beast.
Trump was asked whether he still backed Donalds for Florida governor, given news of his friendship with Jira. At the time of publication, no response was forthcoming.
