ICE update – Aerial view of northern Key West including Mallory Square and a cruise liner — Courtesy: Deatonphotos/Shutterstock
Days after the first vote, a Florida city reversed its decision to violate an agreement with federal immigration authorities, causing a great deal of public outrage.
In a dramatic reversal, Key West city commissioners finally gave in to pressure from state authorities and agreed Tuesday to restore local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration activities.
The contentious decision was made a week after the commission decided, by a vote of 5-1, to stop the city from implementing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s 287(g) agreement, which would permit collaboration between local law enforcement and federal agents.
A request for comment from Fox News Digital was not immediately answered by ICE.
Last week, Commissioner Lissette Carey was the only member to vote against ending the program; she later cast the majority vote at Tuesday’s meeting.
Commissioner Lissette Carey told Fox News Digital, “We absolutely have to support and follow the law of our state and federal government.” “I was shocked that I was the standalone vote and that my colleagues didn’t understand the severity of terminating the agreement.”
Constituents in the room were heard yelling at the politicians before leaving in anger as the commission decided 4-2 to reinstate the agreement.
When Fox News Digital reached out to Commissioners Aaron Castillo, Donald Lee, Samuel Kaufman, and Monika Haskell for comment, they did not immediately reply. Regarding the vote, Commissioner Mary Lou Hoover chose not to comment.
The original agreement was signed by Sean Brandenburg, the city’s police chief, and there was early misunderstanding over the decision’s legality, which led to outrage from constituents throughout the southernmost town of the state.
“[The commissioners] took an interesting position on [the agreement], stating that it was never valid to begin with,” Carey stated.
After the chief of police, rather than City Manager Brian Barroso, signed the original agreement, Carey sought to explain its validity at Tuesday’s vote.
“I’ve wanted clarity on that,” Carey stated. “The city manager is supposed to sign those agreements, but he authorized the police chief to do so.”
Carey said she was told by city authorities that the police chief signing memorandums of agreement was standard procedure.
“The commissioner that proposed amendments asked to change ‘reinstating’ into ‘entering into,’” Carey stated. To put it another way, the contract was never legitimate in the first place. Therefore, the resolution acknowledges that this is a reinstatement, which in my opinion indicates that it was first lawful and revoked.
A request for comment from Fox News Digital was turned down by the administrations of Barroso and Brandenburg. Neither the city attorney nor the mayor’s office responded right away.
The vote comes after officials criticized local leaders for breaking the agreement and threatened to take action if the commission did not decide to overturn the ruling, which heightened pressure from Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration.
In an earlier social media post following the first vote, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier stated, “The City of Key West violated state law when they voted to void the Key West Police Department’s 287(g) agreement with ICE.”
After accusing the commissioners of establishing a sanctuary city, which is against Florida law, Uthmeier said, “They have a choice: stop impeding law enforcement from enforcing immigration law or face the consequences.”
Carey thinks that Uthmeier’s letter to the commissioners, in which he threatened “civil and criminal penalties, including removal from office” if the judgment was not quickly rescinded, prompted the reversal.
“I think some of our commission members took that very seriously,” Carey said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “So they called for the emergency meeting in order to rectify what they had done a week prior.”
Uthmeier commended the commissioners’ course change immediately after the updated ruling.
In a social media post, Uthmeier wrote, “It’s great to see the City of Key West heeding our warning and reversing course by reinstating their participation in ICE’s 287(g) program.” “Florida requires cities to commit best efforts to help the Trump administration enforce immigration law, and Floridians expect nothing less.”
Following a special state legislature session in February that enacted a bill giving local governments in the state more obligations to work with ICE, the City of South Miami is currently suing the DeSantis administration. The lawsuit requests that the state refrain from automatically designating South Miami as a sanctuary city and refrain from requiring police enforcement there to enter a 287(g).
In the end, the municipal commission of Key West decided not to join South Miami in its legal action against the state.
Local law enforcement will support immigration enforcement initiatives around the city as a result of the reaffirmed ruling, which Carey says is good for her people.
“While some residents and local leaders thought that this was not good for the city of Key West, I actually spoke with immigrants who are here legally and were upset by the action that was taken,” Carey stated. “At least when our local law enforcement is working with ICE, they recognize and personally know some of the immigrants that are here legally.”
Carey cited the immigration history of her own family, pointing out that her mother left Cuba with her family when she was just seven years old.
Carey told Fox News Digital, “My mother fled communism with her siblings and my grandparents.” “It is so very important to upload the law and support legal immigration for the safety and security of our country.”
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Melissa’s career in writing started more than 20 years ago. Today, she lives in South Florida with her husband and two boys.
