TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Dozens of neighbors called for the City of Tallahassee to rescind its 287(g) agreement with ICE during a city commission meeting Wednesday. After passionate public comment, commissioner Jeremy Matlow made a motion to end the agreement, but it failed on a 3-2 vote.
The city manager and the Tallahassee Police Department signed a 287(g) agreement earlier this year. But commissioners considered whether to keep that agreement in place following a court ruling in Miami. A judge dismissed that city's lawsuit against the state after they filed a lawsuit about the obligation to enter into 287(g) agreements.
City of Tallahassee commission documents say, in that case, state attorneys argued "not every municipality is required to execute a 287(g) agreement" but a "municipality’s refusal to approve a 287(g) agreement proposed by its law enforcement agency presumptively indicates that the municipality employs a forbidden sanctuary policy." In other words, a city may not have to enter into the immigration enforcement agreement, but it could not act against it.
Earlier this year, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier threatened legal action against the cities of Fort Myers and Key West after they voted not to enter into 287(g) agreements.
In the agenda item, Tallahassee City Attorney Amy Toman wrote: "If the City were to terminate its 287(g) agreement, it is likely that the Attorney General would immediately warn the City, as he warned the City of Key West, that by doing so it had made itself a sanctuary city, in violation of state (and possibly federal) law."
40 people requested to speak during a public comment period. Their remarks followed another lengthy public comment period earlier in the evening which centered around the proposed partnership between Florida State University and Tallahassee Memorial Healthcare. Discussions on those topics and the proposed sale of land to the Capital City Country Club dominated Wednesday's meeting which lasted more than 7 hours.
On the 287(g) agreement item, public comments became raucous at times. They referred back to an ICE raid at a construction site near College Town earlier this year and argued the tactics used by ICE were racist and inhumane. They also blamed city commissioners for not taking a stand against the DeSantis administration.
When all of the speakers had finished, Commissioner Jeremy Matlow motioned to end the city's 287(g) agreement with ICE, a move that drew cheers from the residents in the chamber. Commissioner Jack Porter seconded. Mayor John Dailey, Commissioner Curtis Richardson, and Mayor Pro Tem Dianne Williams-Cox voted against the motion, causing it to fail.
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