- Tallahassee's Freedom Road Socialist Organization and other activist groups joined for a May Day Rally ahead of a town hall.
- Demonstrators advocated for immigrant rights and workers' rights.
- They also condemned the Trump Administration and TPD's recent agreement with ICE.
- Watch the video to learn more about the concerns they continue to speak out about.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
I'm Kenya Cardonne in the Southwest Tallahassee neighborhood, where dozens of neighbors showed out for a May Day Rally Thursday. Demonstrators say, even after a town hall with several city and county commissioners on Thursday, they still have questions and concerns about immigrant rights.
International Workers Day, or May Day, activism looked like this in Leon County Thursday.
Dozens of members of Tallahassee's Freedom Road Socialist Organization and other activist organizations joined forces, rallying for workers' rights, which they believe is part of the fight for immigrant rights.
Among a list of concerns, demonstrators told me their biggest one was the Tallahassee Police Department's recent 287(g) agreement with ICE. That allows local law enforcement agencies to perform ICE duties.
Isabela Casanova, FRSO Member - "This is a very obvious show of people power. It shows that people don't agree with this 287(g), that they support immigrants.."
That concern, paired with their anger over recent actions from the Trump Administration and DOGE, such as cuts in the federal workforce, fueled the crowd ahead of a Town Hall that same day. The event was hosted by WFSU studios and The Village Square.
County Commissioner David O'Keefe - "We need to do everything we can legally to make sure that people in our community who aren't harming anybody aren't afraid to go to school, afraid to go to the doctor, afraid to call police when a crime is being committed."
On the panel were several city and county commissioners. Some weighed in on the current situation.
City Commissioner Curtis Richardson took time to reassure the community that TPD's 287(g) agreement only allocates for one officer to be trained for ICE duties.
City Commissioner Curtis Richardson - "We will not go to people's homes, their churches, their neighborhoods, picking up people off the street, arresting them and sending them places that we don't know where they're going. We're just not going to do that here in the City of Tallahassee. We don't condone it, and we certainly aren't going to allow it to happen."
Joelle Nunez, FRSO Member - "I hope that they're telling the truth. I think that's certainly something that we're going to have to hold them accountable to."
Casanova - "We can't be sure that the one police officer is going to stay one police officer. Our concern is that this is an avenue for the relationship to grow and for our community to be targeted even more."
Demonstrators say they want commissioners to condemn the agreement.
City Commissioner Jeremy Matlow - "Does the Commission now have the authority to ask the Chief to rescind that agreement? I'm not sure. I think that is a question for the courts, but I think we should be asking the courts anytime that there's a disagreement for what's great for our community."
Activists say we will continue to see movements like these as long as the agreement exists.
Nunez - "Chief Revell was the one that signed the agreement, we know at the very least it's under his jurisdiction to end it. So we're going to keep targeting Chief Revell."
On March 26th, City Commissioner Jack Porter introduced a motion to consider seeking a declaratory judgment on the 287(g) Agreement for further clarification. It failed by a 3-2 vote. In Southwest Tallahassee, Kenya Cardonne ABC 27
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