While several South Florida cities have entered into agreements with ICE on how police will deal with federal immigration enforcement, one city wants to get clarification from the court before making a decision. NBC6’s Niko Clemmons reports
While several South Florida cities have entered into agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement on how police will deal with federal immigration enforcement, one city wants to get clarification from the court first before they make a decision.
South Miami Mayor Javier Fernandez said he and city commissioners have several questions, including whether they are legally required to sign the ICE agreement.
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WATCH HEREIt's a subject that's caused controversy recently.
Cities that sign the agreement with ICE agree to help with immigration enforcement, and it allows trained officers to enforce certain federal immigration laws.
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Last month, Hialeah and Coral Gables signed the agreement.
Fernandez said South Miami already cooperates with immigration enforcement efforts.
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"The City seeks to determine whether signing the agreement is a legal obligation or if it can continue supporting ICE operations under existing state law, as it currently does," a statement from the city read, in part.
The mayor said they have several concerns if they sign this agreement.
"The most basic ones are, what does our liability profile look like if we get sued for civil rights violation because we detained someone mistakenly? How does this impact our current insurance premiums, because it’s an expansion of our scope of services? Those questions have not been answered by our carrier," Fernandez said. "Is it a modification of our labor agreement because we're asking our cops to do more than what we negotiated for in our bargaining agreement?"
Fernandez said if the court determines they have to sign the agreement to comply with the law, they will.
If not, they will have a conversation about what to do next.
