Alachua County Commission puts anti-ICE resolution on hold

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

Editor’s note: The week of May 4 featured an unusually high number of meetings, so we’re still reviewing them for discussions that may be of interest to our readers.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – At the end of a May 5 special meeting, the Alachua County Commission voted to ask staff to wait until the fall to bring back a resolution that the board unanimously requested on April 28 to oppose ICE and reiterate their commitment to “immigrant safety and inclusion.” They also voted to encourage more pollinator-friendly landscaping, which could include “Pollinators’ Homes” signs along roadways.

Items on the agenda

At the meeting, the board discussed partnership strategies for agricultural land easements and voted unanimously to transmit Evaluation and Appraisal Amendments to the County’s Comprehensive Plan to the state for review. 

Commission Comment

During Commission Comment at the end of the meeting, Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler referred to the unanimous vote on April 28 to ask staff to develop a resolution responding to five demands from Gainesville Immigrant Neighbor Inclusion Initiative (GINI) and “bring [it] back to us at our next regular meeting and to include all points, one through five.” 

GINI had asked Commissioners to do five things, found in this petition:

1. Announce opposition to ICE offices in Gainesville or Alachua County, as was recently done in Orange County;
2. Reiterate the Commission’s commitment to immigrant safety and inclusion as outlined in the Gainesville/Alachua Immigrant Neighbor Inclusion (GINI) Blueprint for Immigrant Inclusion;
3. Advocate that the Gainesville Police Department continues to serve the best interests of the community, public safety, and their department by not signing onto a 287(g) agreement;
4. Speak out against the indiscriminate and destructive arrests of our neighbors, joining the voices of countless community members and even recent critique from DeSantis-appointed sheriffs of Florida’s own State Board of Immigration Enforcement; and
5. Develop policies to require that all ICE officials working within the county display identification of their name and federal affiliation and be unmasked—no secret policing.

On May 5, Wheeler said, “I think, in light of some new information that we’ve got coming in, we could hold off on that for a while before we put it out to the public.” She continued, “I just feel like, at this point, there’s some issues that are coming forward in the community that would be beneficial to the community if we would hold off.” Chair Ken Cornell said that was fine with him, but he would need a motion.

Wheeler said she would make that motion, and Commissioner Charles Chestnut seconded the motion. 

Commissioner Anna Prizzia asked, “Hold off until when?” and Wheeler said, “Until further notice.” Commissioner Mary Alford responded, “I think until the Sheriff’s Department has a chance to…” Wheeler responded, “Until we — yeah,” and Alford said, “That’s what I’m concerned about.” It was unclear what Alford and Wheeler were concerned about.

Commissioner Anna Prizzia: “I would say that I’m open to holding off, but I don’t want it to be one of those things where we’re just holding off in order to let it die.”

Commissioner Anna Prizzia said, “I would say that I’m open to holding off, but I don’t want it to be one of those things where we’re just holding off in order to let it die. So I guess I would hope that we would hold off until the fall, and then we could revisit the conversation and see if there’s — because I think it’s about editing it and making sure that it doesn’t, you know, jeopardize, like — or violate laws, or just, we need to just do all the full investigation and make sure that it’s covering all of our bases.”

Commissioner Mary Alford: “It’s mostly symbolic.”

Wheeler said, “It’s not only about our law enforcement,” and Prizzia responded, “Well, I understand what it’s about,” and Alford said, “It’s mostly symbolic.”

Prizzia agreed, “Right — I know it’s mostly symbolic, and we know we don’t have enforcement authority on most of this, and we have sanctuary laws, which sort of preclude us from doing a lot. But I do think postponing it until the fall gives our staff time for this, over the summer, to do that homework and sort of see where we are legislatively and have conversations with our other stakeholders — to your point, the Sheriff and others.”

Wheeler agreed to add “until the fall” to her motion.

Commissioner Marihelen Wheeler: “We have a real vulnerable population here, and that’s not just farmworkers; it’s students and, you know, the people who come here because we have a special status in this city, that has invited folks here”

Wheeler said, “We have a real vulnerable population here, and that’s not just farmworkers; it’s students and, you know, the people who come here because we have a special status in this city, that has invited folks here, and so I just want to make sure that we have all our ducks in a row before we commit too broadly, that’s all.”

Chestnut said he had met with a representative from GINI, “and I was kind of informed that it would be coming back at our next meeting, so we probably need to speak with them.” Prizzia said she had been “speaking with them actively.” Both Wheeler and Cornell said they had meetings scheduled with GINI.

Prizzia said she told GINI representatives that she had spoken with the County Attorney and “some stakeholders.” She said she told them she felt like the County needed “some more time to look at the language and to think about a substantive resolution that would meet their goals and needs and also meet the needs of our, like, our other stakeholders in the community. And they said that they were okay with that.”

The motion passed unanimously.

Signs pointing to “Pollinators’ Homes”

Mark van Soestbergen had spoken about pollinators during General Public Comment, and Alford said, “It’s always nice to end our meetings with Mark’s really nice comments about pollinators and sort of bringing us back to what’s real.” Cornell said he would like Public Works to make “Pollinators’ Homes” signs to place in areas where the County maintains wildflowers: “It’s a small thing, but it’s a nice idea.”

Prizzia said an idea for food gardens on front lawns, brought forward before she was a Commissioner, was “abandoned prematurely because there was unhoused people taking up residence there and the County didn’t have a good way to manage those pieces of property.”

Prizzia said she would “love for staff to bring back our contracts for our landscaping services and our right-of-way mowing and to have a conversation about how we might encourage more pollinator-friendly and native landscaping… and how we could put more trees in those areas, as well, where it makes sense.” She said that was a motion, and Alford seconded the motion. Prizzia said staff didn’t have to bring it back quickly.

The motion passed unanimously.