Hialeah and Coral Gables enter into agreements with ICE under 287(g) program

Two South Florida cities, Hialeah and Coral Gables, entered into agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement under the controversial 287(g) program on Tuesday.

All 67 counties in the state, including Broward and Miami-Dade, have already entered this agreement, which allows trained officers to enforce certain federal immigration laws. Florida is the only state where all counties are cooperating.

At both council meetings, NBC6 heard from pastors, business owners and residents who are concerned with what this means moving forward.

In Coral Gables, community leaders and advocates called on the city to end the agreement.

"City police should have no role in civil immigration enforcement," said an advocate. "It breaks the trust between our residents, it diverts our resources and tax-payer dollars and harms our neighbors, our friends and our community."

This comes as the state rushes to assist President Donald Trump's mass deportation efforts.

"I wanna make one thing very clear, that state and federal law does not mandate that you enter into these agreements," resident Juan Cuba said. "This is a voluntary choice by the police department and that is why we are here speaking up about it."

Leaders argued the program is being used to target people based on race and immigration status and does not effectively reduce crime rates. They also said it ultimately damages the relationship between law enforcement and the community they serve.

"We’re not going to be going into businesses, we are not going into people's homes, we are not going to be asking people if they have papers with them or documents," Mayor Vince Lago said.

Police chief Ed Hudak explained to city commissioners what was at stake and why he had signed the agreement. 

"If we don’t, and if that makes us a sanctuary city, there are issues that could be brought by the government, by the governor, by the legislature, the attorney, general’s office, against all of us, myself included," Hudak said.

The agreement requires several officers be trained to perform the duties of an ICE officer. Local officers will become familiar with topics like relevant immigration laws, civil rights laws, and the detention of people who are undocumented. Those officers would serve on a larger immigration enforcement task force.

"My recommendation, not because I want to be an ICE department, is because I want the ability to train my officers, and again, let them do their job to the best of their ability to protect our community," Hudak said. "I don’t see us going out and checking on gardeners and things like that. That is not something I am going to allow our people to do."

A new state law says somebody who is undocumented cannot be arrested “solely because the alien witnessed or reported a crime or was a victim of a criminal offense.”

Despite that, many have their doubts.

"We think Coral Gables Police should be focused on public safety of the community, not on enforcing immigration, doing the job of ICE and the Trump deportation machine," Cuba said.

One reason Coral Gables is the first city in Miami-Dade to sign this agreement is that the police chief is in charge of legislative fairs for the Police Chief’s State Association.

Hialeah city leaders also took up the issue in a council meeting and voted to approve the resolution.

"All this agreement does is, like we do with all other agencies, federal or state agencies now, if they request support we will help them out," Police Chief George Fuente told the council.

While many residents expressed growing fears, the mayor said nothing will change.

"If the question is, are we gonna pull people and ask for their immigration papers? That’s not what we’re trained to do and that’s not what we’re authorized to do. That’s not our job and I don’t expect us to be doing that," Mayor Esteban Bovo Jr. said. "Are we going to go into churches to conduct raids? We’re not gonna be doing that either. That’s not the job of the police department."

Resident Tony Marcial Olivera was not convinced: "I think this is perfectly summarized in three words: unnecessary, wasteful and harmful."