Florida's Hialeah, city of immigrants, unanimously approves agreement to enforce immigration laws

HIALEAH, Fla. — Hialeah has become the second city in Miami-Dade County to enter a partnership with the Trump administration to deputize local police officers to perform duties typically handled by federal immigration agents.

The City Council on Tuesday night unanimously gave Mayor Esteban “Steve” Bovo the green light to authorize a partnership agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with six members voting in favor and one absent.

With the approval of the resolution, the mostly Hispanic city, where a majority of residents were born outside the U.S., is now among the first jurisdictions in South Florida to localize the crackdown by President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis on illegal immigration. It’s also a development in the city’s evolving response to newly arrived immigrants that officials say have strained city resources.

Bovo told the council the decision is a “fine line in a city like this one that has been built by legal immigrants, a very fine line as opposed to illegal immigrants. ... The person that comes into the country illegally, illegally has already violated our laws, the laws of this country.”

Under the federal 287(g) agreement, which allows state and local police to assist ICE in immigration enforcement, Hialeah police officers will gain the authority to stop, interrogate and arrest individuals suspected of violating immigration laws. The decision comes days after the Coral Gables Police Department signed a similar agreement.

“The agreement does not weaponize our Hialeah Police officers against our city of Hialeah residents,” said police Chief George Fuente.

It remains to be seen how the policy will play out in predominantly immigrant Hialeah, where five of the council members who approved the agreement are the children of immigrants, and the sixth was born in Cuba. Several residents denounced the agreement amid worries that recent arrivals to the United States, many of whom have made a home in Hialeah, will be targets.

Fuente told the council that he wants all victims and witnesses to report crimes and said the officers selected for the program will be trained “to understand their protocols and what can or can’t be done when it comes to certain operations that they perform.” According to Fuente’s interpretation, the agreement does not mean Hialeah officers are going to do immigration raids, or stop people and ask for their documents.

However, the agreement signed between the department and ICE explicitly grants city officers the authority to interrogate anyone they suspect of being in the country illegally. It also allows them to arrest individuals without a warrant, detain those attempting to enter or already in the U.S. unlawfully, execute immigration arrest warrants and prepare documents that initiate deportation proceedings for ICE. Officers are also authorized to take and maintain custody of those arrested on behalf of ICE.

This isn’t the first time Bovo and other Hialeah officials have taken a hard line on immigration and backed Trump’s policies. When Trump visited the city for a campaign event in 2023 and announced he would conduct mass deportations, Bovo announced at the rally that the city would be renaming its main street in honor of Trump. Days later, the council unanimously renamed Palm Avenue Donald J Trump Avenue.

In 2024, the mayor claimed that 80,000 Cubans had arrived in the city and strained local resources. He compared the influx to the 1980 Mariel boatlift, which brought 125,000 Cuban refugees to Florida. In response, the city council voted to formally criticize the Biden administration’s “open border policies” and urged the federal government to implement stricter immigration measures to address the surge in migrants to northwest Miami-Dade.

‘Do not terrorize your community’

On Tuesday, Hialeah residents shared their concerns with the council before its members voted on the agreement with the feds They said that in a city where residents predominantly have roots in Cuba, leaders have fast-tracked a deal that could jeopardize the future of immigrants who call the city home. Since coming into power, the Trump administration has moved to terminate the legal status of hundreds of thousands of Cubans, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans and Haitians.

“I urge you, my City Council, to not terrorize your own community with this wasteful, harmful, and unnecessary agreement, “ said Tony Marcial Olivera, 21. He pointed to Justice Department investigations and academic research that shows that 287(g) agreements have led to extreme racial profiling and discrimination towards Hispanics.

Residents argued that the partnership with ICE would be costly for Hialeah and make the city less safe because people will not come forward to report crimes.

“What happens when a victim of domestic violence is scared to report?” said Jacqueline Gilbert. “What about when a victim of a crime is scared to report because they are scared to be detained?”

One of the residents told council members the decision on an immigration agreement should be put on the ballot, and leave to residents to decide if city resources should be used to “deport their neighbors, family and friends.”

Local law enforcement agencies can enroll in one of three 287(g) models. Hialeah and Coral Gables opted into the Task Force model, which allows police officers to conduct immigration enforcement functions during routine work. ICE describes the model as a “force multiplier.”

Florida’s “sanctuary city” law requires local law enforcement agencies to fully cooperate with federal immigration authorities. Bovo told reporters that Hialeah must cooperate with the state’s decree and that he doesn’t see any difference between how Hialeah police operate now with the federal government.

“The police have always cooperated, but I think it’s also important to point out to people that our police will not be arresting people or asking for documents.” Bovo said. “That’s not our role, and I don’t see that as their role.”

Bovo, once again pointed fingers at the Biden administration as the reason for the influx of undocumented immigrants in Hialeah.

“How many additional people do we have who don’t have papers, who don’t have that status?” he said. “We understand why they come sometimes, but the reality is that they’re here illegally.”

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