Gainesville City Commission agrees to consider anti-ICE petition

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – During the afternoon session of their June 18 meeting, the Gainesville City Commission agreed to discuss an anti-ICE petition at their July 16 meeting.

General Public Comment

During the General Public Comment period, about 15 people, many of whom described themselves as Democratic Socialists or members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the Gainesville Chapter of National Women’s Liberation, or the United Faculty of Florida, urged the City Commission to make a public commitment to oppose ICE and 287(g) agreements.

Excerpt from GINI petition: “We, as a community, stand in opposition to the presence of a DHS ICE administrative office here in Gainesville or anywhere else in Alachua County, and we reject the participation of Gainesville Police Department, the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, and all other local and state law enforcement agencies in our county in 287(g) agreements that deputize state and local law enforcement to carry out federal immigration enforcement.”

The Gainesville Immigrant Neighbor Inclusion Initiative (GINI) has collected 2,500 signatures on a petition that reads, “We, the undersigned residents of Alachua County and Gainesville, believe in due process, public safety, and the dignity of every person. As a diverse community that relies on and is made up of thousands of immigrants, we care about all of our neighbors, our families, and the places we call home. We, as a community, stand in opposition to the presence of a DHS ICE administrative office here in Gainesville or anywhere else in Alachua County, and we reject the participation of Gainesville Police Department, the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, and all other local and state law enforcement agencies in our county in 287(g) agreements that deputize state and local law enforcement to carry out federal immigration enforcement. Therefore, we request that City leaders announce opposition to ICE offices in Gainesville, as was recently done in Orange County. Reiterate the Commission’s commitment to immigrant safety and inclusion, as outlined in the Gainesville Immigrant Neighbor Inclusion Initiative blueprint for immigrant inclusion. Advocate that the Gainesville Police Department continue to serve the best interests of the community, public safety, and their department by not signing on to a 287(g) agreement, speak out against the indiscriminate and destructive arrests of our neighbors, joining the voices of countless community members, and even the recent critique from DeSantis-appointed sheriffs of Florida’s own state board of immigration enforcement, and develop policies that secure all of our neighbors.”

Commission discussion

After the speakers had finished, Commissioner Casey Willits said he would look into the petition before the Commission’s next meeting on July 16, and he asked for it to be placed on the agenda for that meeting. He said the petition was “really just a statement of our values, of what we oppose, and we oppose all illegal action, and this really focuses around an established pattern, which is hard to argue against, that there are issues and people’s rights have been violated. We see this because there’s lawsuits, and ICE and other 287(g) enforcement agencies continuously get told, ‘You have broken the law, you’ve get to undo this, you have to return somebody,’ so this is just right in line with holding our other government partners accountable to say we oppose this.”

Willits also said he would look into the City’s progress on providing language access for non-English-speakers.

Commissioner Bryan Eastman: “We are uniquely susceptible to having our community be taken over by fear.”

Commissioner Bryan Eastman said the petition is a “statement of where we stand as a community, and there’s no question that what we hear from our community members, what we see in our community, is just awful, and there are a lot of stories of people that have been abused by the system. And for every one of those, I know there’s 10 other folks that are scared about them being the next one that’s being taken… Our community is so heavily dependent on bringing the brightest minds from all around the world here to do the best in research,… and we are uniquely susceptible to having our community be taken over by fear. I think that’s true across Florida.”

Eastman also agreed with Willits that “we need to commit to doing better” at language access.

Commissioner James Ingle: “To do something that brings more scrutiny on an area or more enforcement on an area concerns me…”

Commissioner James Ingle said, “I spent most of my time in this room on that side of the dais, mostly as a labor activist, for workers’ rights and things like this, and obviously there’s a lot of crossover between immigrant rights and workers’ rights. I’m hesitant to do things like this sometimes, because I’m worried that the resolutions are more performative than effective,… and to do something that brings more scrutiny on an area or more enforcement on an area concerns me, because it’s not me that’s going to have to pay those bills… But the people that are out there doing that work are telling me that this is what they need. If this is what they need, how about it?”

Commissioner Desmon Duncan-Walker: “There are things that I think we can discuss reasonably about how we move towards what our responsibilities are, which are to keep everybody safe.”

Commissioner Desmon Duncan-Walker said, “I identify with many of the people that have come out to speak. Many of you are my friends; you’re my comrades. We’ve worked together, we fought, we stood together in the streets, we’ve marched, we’ve rallied. Your voices are so critical in this moment, and to piggyback off of what Commissioner Ingle is saying, I think it is so important for us to move beyond those things that are performative… I think you’ve heard some alluding to the idea that the City is facing some real tough decisions in terms of what our budget will look like, but there are things that I think we can discuss reasonably about how we move towards what our responsibilities are, which are to keep everybody safe.”

Commissioner Ed Book: “When I look at the resolution, there are some things in here that I’m completely uncomfortable with, and they’re mostly the opinion statements, like towards the end…”

Commissioner Ed Book said, “Remember, we’re a community of 150,000, roughly, that local law enforcement, Gainesville Police, Alachua County Sheriff’s Office, and both the university and the college treat each other in a way that has respected the rights of others for many, many years, and we have a tremendous, I think, community policing relationship… When I look at the resolution, there are some things in here that I’m completely uncomfortable with, and they’re mostly the opinion statements, like towards the end, but that’s why we’ll come back on July 16.”

Mayor Harvey Ward: “I don’t want us to do something that brings more harm to the community than is already here.”

Mayor Harvey Ward said, “We will address this on the agenda on July 16. My only concern, as I’ve expressed to some of you in the room, is one of your whereas [statements] is, ‘Whereas a primary objective of the City of Gainesville is to protect the public health, safety, and welfare of its residents, businesses, workforce, and visitors.’ Harm reduction is the thing I’m most concerned with in this regard, and I don’t want us to do something that brings more harm to the community than is already here. That’s the only discussion for me where there’s any hesitation whatsoever.”

Ward added, “A very, very conservative sheriff down south can have those discussions with the governor without bringing any extra harm on his community, I think. What our liberal community does is a different discussion.”