COCONUT GROVE, FLA. (WSVN) - City of Miami city commissioners have given the greenlight to a collaboration between Miami Police officers and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The controversial vote will allow certain city officers to act as ICE agents, allowing them to stop, question and detain anyone they suspect of being in violation of immigration law.
The vote was 3-2, with commissioners Christine King and Damian Pardo voting against it.
“This is not the climate we want to establish in Miami,” said Pardo.
“We’re not breaking any laws by not entering into the agreement,” said King.
But it came after hours of continued protests at City Hall where demonstrators expressed their opposition to this proposal. Many said they fear the proposal will hurt public trust of police officers and lead to racial profiling.
“Miami is a city with 55 percent of its population being immigrants. A lot of us look like immigrants. So there really is a very real fear that this will lead to racial profiling and the false arrests of U.S. citizens that may look like immigrants,” said Dariel Gomez, an organizer from ACLU Florida.
During the public comment period, that last over three hours, dozens of people provided their thoughts on the matter.
“By turning local police into immigration agents, you are inviting constitutional violations and racial profiling,” said Will Mann of the Community Justice Project.
“We formally ask that you cooperate with the visa or simply invite ICE in to do their job as intended because these people are operating under criminal status because they have overstayed their visas,” another person.
“The way that this program is being pushed upon local government breaks down the trust in our communities,” said Lucia Baez-Geller.
Some felt the plea from the public fell on deaf ears.
“From a commission of immigrants is absolutely shameful and appalling,” said Billy Corbin.
“There’s really no need for them to do this in terms of actually processing people into ICE detention, so what they really just did was they created a ton of financial liability for them in terms of civil rights lawsuits. Obviously, they have to train a bunch of these officers now,” said Thomas Kennedy with the Florida Immigration Coalition.
Supporters of the measure say this will promote law and order and promote legal pathways to citizenship.
“I know the vast majority of immigrants have come to our country for the right reasons, not because they’re criminals or anything else. But at the same time we are a country of laws,” said Commissioner Joe Carollo.
The Miami Police Department will have to iron out all the details before the plan being implemented. Officers will have to undergo ICE training to act as immigration agents.
Miami Police Chief Manuel Morales told commissioners that he thinks it’s appropriate to assign three officers to the program.
“Once these officers are assigned to a task force they will be under the supervision of ICE and they will be utilized based on their protocols and procedures,” said Morales.
Miami is the latest city in South Florida to approve such a measure. Cities like Doral and Coral Gables have also partnered with ICE to crack down on illegal immigration in recent months.
Over 100 localities in Florida have joined such agreement.
Copyright 2025 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.