Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said his office would investigate Monday night's split vote by the Fort Myers City Council that will now block city police from entering into a federal government agreement on immigration operations.
Via a comment on social media site X, Uthmeier said: "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."
Congressman Byron Donalds tweeted on Tuesday morning: "The Fort Myers City Council has a responsibility to IMPLEMENT state & federal law, not to DEFY it."
City Council members took a possible agreement with ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, by the Fort Myers Police Department under advisement at the meeting and ended up in a 3-3 split, negative any agreement.
The agreement was the proposal which would have allowed some local officers to be trained by ICE to take on immigration-related duties—like questioning suspected undocumented immigrants, arresting people with civil warrants, and entering data into ICE databases.
FMPD Chief Jason Fields stepped up to the podium to further explain the memorandum.
“The National Crime and Information Center, 700,000 of these civil warrants are into the system now. So, we do a traffic stop, we come across somebody that has this civil warrant. We can't do anything with it. We can't do anything. But if we're trained and we're given that authority through the MOA, we could then process them, bring them to a 287(g), which is going to be any one of the county jails."
The Florida Highway Patrol was the first law agency in the country to adopt the 287(g) task force model. Collier County Sheriff's Office already enforces it. And Marco Island just unanimously passed it. The program was abandoned by the Obama administration after racial profiling issues were discovered and legal challenges emerged. President Trump did not revive the task force model during his first term, but his administration relaunched it last month.
Council member Diana Giraldo asked the million-dollar question about what would happen if the city voted no.
The city attorney responded that there could be consequences, but admitted he wasn’t sure what those might be. Councilman Burson added that opting out could limit the city’s access to certain grants and law enforcement databases tied to the program. The debate turned emotional as council members voiced their positions. Councilwoman Darla Bonk had tears in her eyes as she stated the following:
"The argument, and I know there's no mal intent to it, that we would risk federal or state funding if I don't sign up. It is a tumultuous day and age, and this is a day I hate sitting in this seat, but my city is not for sale."
Reached Tuesday, Councilwoman Bonk declined to comment on Uthmeier's tweet.
Contrary to the audience, not all council members took the same stance. Mayor Kevin Anderson clarified.
"This is not a memorandum to create a group of officers out there and kick in doors and actively seek out immigrants. It's a process that allows officers who come in contact with people violating the laws, people creating or committing crimes that also happen to be illegal aliens and have a warrant, a civil warrant, for that purpose."
Councilwoman Teresa Watkins Brown attended the meeting through Zoom which made her ineligible to vote. After all was said, the city clerk took roll call.
“Councilperson Bonk?" "No." "Councilperson Geraldo?" "No." "Councilperson Watson? "No." "Councilperson Burson?" "Yes." "Mayor Anderson?" "Yes." Councilperson Bochette?" "I'll vote yes, because that gives me the right to reintroduce the topic in a future date."
"Three, three. Motion fails.” said the city clerk.
Donalds' Tweet also referenced "dereliction of duty" about the council's action and suggested members be removed from office.
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