Fort Myers City Council passes enhanced ICE agreement after pressure from DeSantis

The Fort Myers City Council caved to legal pressure from Governor Ron DeSantis (R) and Attorney General James Uthmeier by unanimously voting to approve a program to have the city’s police department work more closely with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A vote on the 287(g) program did not pass on Monday in a 3-3 tie because the council members voting against it said they had many questions about it that were not answered. The tie vote created a firestorm nationally, as it seemed the city was unwilling to follow new state law that requires Florida departments to work closely with ICE. DeSantis and Uthmeier floated the possibility of removing people from the council or cutting off state funding if they did not approve the measure.

‘Good choice.’

The 287(g) program allows local law enforcement officers to be trained by ICE and to be deputized by the federal government to carry out immigration-related duties while they are out in their regular patrols or missions. It is now state law in Florida for departments to have 287(g) agreements.

Nearly every single person who participated in public comment ahead of Friday’s vote urged the council not to pass the agreement because it would risk the safety of immigrants, illegal or legal, and erode trust with the city’s police department.

Council members such as Darla Bonk and Diana Giraldo still had many questions about the program before voting in favor of the agreement.

Bonk went so far as to accuse the city attorney of failing to do his job because she felt he did not do enough to better inform the council of the legal implications of the program.

In response on X to the council’s unanimous vote, Uthmeier said, “Good choice.”

During a ward meeting on Wednesday, Bonk said one of the reasons she originally voted no was because “the memorandum of understanding as I understood Monday night … was that [Fort Myers police] would become working for ICE, not partnering with ICE. To me, that was a difference. I wanted more answers, so I asked for clarification.”

Bonk said she was also unsure how to protect officers from being sued personally if someone claimed his Fourth Amendment rights were violated. She had many of the same concerns on Friday before voting yes.

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