Fort Myers city leaders voted unanimously on Friday to approve training local police officers to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in enforcing immigration laws.
The decision came after a city council meeting on Monday, where a 3-3 vote initially failed to pass the measure.
The reversal followed pressure from state officials, including the governor and attorney general, who threatened to remove council members from office if they did not reconsider their decision.
State leaders also labeled Fort Myers a "sanctuary city" and warned that the city could lose funding if it failed to cooperate with immigration enforcement. Some council members reported receiving death threats over their initial vote.
"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," said Mayor Kevin Anderson.
The decision sparked national attention, with the governor and attorney general threatening to remove council members from office if they didn't reverse the decision.
Other Southwest Florida communities, including Marco Island and Punta Gorda , recently approved similar agreements.
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