Miami officials consider ICE deal to let local police enforce immigration laws
Miami commissioners are set to decide if the city's police force will assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in detaining undocumented immigrants during Tuesday's meeting.
The federal 287(g) program allows state and local law enforcement to collaborate with ICE in detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants.
Under the federal 287(g) agreement, Miami police officers will gain the authority to stop, interrogate and arrest individuals suspected of violating immigration laws.
The county already participates in the program, along with a growing list of municipalities including Doral, Coral Gables, Hialeah and Homestead.
Half of Miami's residents are foreign born. Local organizations are called on residents to show up at the meeting to voice their opposition to the resolution. Many heeded that call.
"If you agree with this deal with ICE, you are putting honest and brave City of Miami police officers in an impossible position, you are telling them to arrest their neighbors for pursuing the American Dream," Miami resident Abel Delgado told the commission during the public comment section.
"The behaviour of current ICE agents, detaining people without due process and brutalizing some of them, is not in alignment with the rule of law," another resident said.
No one who addressed the commission was supportive of the ICE partnership.
Commissioner Joe Carollo has not stated whether he will vote in favor of the agreement, however commissioner Damian Pardo has said he would vote against it.
A vote against the resolution would be in direct opposition to Gov. Ron DeSantis. The governor has made it clear he wants all agencies with 25 or more officers to partner with the federal program and has asked the legislature to empower him to suspend law enforcement officials who don't cooperate.
