The Fort Myers City Council voted 3-3, causing a proposal to train Fort Myers Police Department officers to enforce immigration laws to fail, despite warnings from the city attorney about potential federal and state funding losses.
"It is a tumultuous day and age, and this is a day I hate sitting in the seat that my city's not for sale," said council member Darla Bonk, who was visibly emotional during the meeting.
The proposal aimed to allow some FMPD officers to be trained by ICE to handle situations involving illegal immigrants. Chief Jason Fields argued that this training was necessary for officers to manage such situations effectively.
"This is not to develop a task force or team out and actively seek out illegal immigrants. It's training officers so that when an officer comes in contact with someone who's violating the law, and now they determine that they're illegal, right now, they have to wait on ICE and ICE can't respond. So these officers will be trained as ICE officers," Fields said.
Fields cited recent cases where he believed this training could have been beneficial, including a homicide where a body was dismembered and a sexual assault involving an illegal immigrant.
However, Fields failed to convince the entire council. Concerns about racial profiling and the federal government's role in immigration policy were raised during the meeting.
"So how are we going to make sure that we're not racially profiling people," said Diana Giraldo.
"You've got to remember that racism, genderism, right? It's it's unstoppable," another council member said.
"It's the federal government's fault that we're in this position, and they're putting it on us again. They need to make legal immigration smoother. And that way, they wouldn't have illegal immigration," the council member added.
"Me, as coming from a people that was tormented over 400 years, I can feel how they're feeling about this, and I just don't feel comfortable with this policy," said Teroyln Watson.
More than 20 residents, many attending their first council meeting, spoke against the measure, and their voices played a key role in the outcome.
"I think it is very important, especially in times such as these, to stand up for those in our community who need our help, and especially as a, as a white, straight presenting person, it is important to me to use my positional privilege to help those who may not feel that they can come and speak up," said Lucile Perkins-Wagel, a concerned resident.
"We all came here to fight. And I was so pleased to see that there were some like-minded people who shared our beliefs on our city council actually representing us. And, it did bring a tear to my eye. If you call it on camera, you saw the council, people were crying and, I literally broke into a hug with my boyfriend after," said Madelyn Holliday, another concerned resident.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier posted a response to the decision on his X account. It reads as follows:
"The Fort Myers City Council’s vote to not approve the police department’s 287(g) agreement with ICE is very troubling.
Preventing a local law enforcement agency from entering into a 287(g) agreement with the federal government prevents that agency from participating in certain federal immigration operations.
These council members actions likely run afoul of Florida Statute, and my office will be investigating."