Community advocacy groups in Orange County are well past their own capacity to help immigrants who are being detained and, in some cases, disappearing from record, advocates said Tuesday at a media briefing.
“Our community organizations cannot keep up with the unlawful detentions, the disappearances of people. And we don't have enough resources among all of us to protect people's due process,” said Ericka Gomez-Tejeda, organizing director with Hope CommUnity Center.
She and other advocates advised all those dealing with immigration issues to contact an attorney as a first step — including before bonding out of jail, if the situation applies. Next month, the Orlando Center for Justice plans to hold a training session for attorneys who may not have trained in immigration specifically but want to get involved.
The detentions are coming as the Trump administration is ramping up its deportation efforts nationwide. Last month, executive director of the State Board of Immigration Enforcement Larry Keefe touted Florida’s plan, a “blueprint” for mass deportation in line with the administration's efforts.
Tuesday’s briefing by advocates followed a county commission meeting where residents pleaded with Mayor Jerry Demings to revisit the county’s relationship with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement department. Right now, many Central Floridians are losing track of friends and relatives who have been detained by authorities, including in Orange County, residents told commissioners during a public comment period.
“We currently have many violations that we are finding, many people disappeared,” said Ericka Gomez-Tejeda, organizing director with Hope CommUnity Center.
Usually, there is a record family members and attorneys can reference for somebody detained by immigration authorities. And for local jails, there are lists of who has been arrested and remains in custody. But immigration attorney Melissa Marantes with the Orlando Center for Justice said lately, the process isn’t working that way.
“These days, oftentimes, it can be a week, it can be more than that. And we will not know where an individual is,” Marantes said. “All we're asking is for the ability to know where people are, so we can defend them, so they can present their defense, and they can have their rights protected.”
District 1 Commissioner Nicole Wilson echoed residents’ sense of urgency, telling the mayor: “Every day, people are going missing.”
“Well, I'm not aware of that, but okay. I hear you,” Demings replied.
Statewide and in Orange County, local law enforcement officers are currently authorized to act as immigration agents under 287(g) agreements. A judge is evaluating a state law that requires agencies to participate in those agreements.
Wilson and District 5 Commissioner Kelly Martinez-Semrad, who both joined advocates at Tuesday’s media briefing, were the only two Orange County commissioners who voted against signing onto a 287(g) agreement with ICE earlier this year. But that’s not to say the other commissioners were enthusiastic about the new partnership, Gomez-Tejeda said.
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“All of the commissioners, basically, have said that they would have voted in a different way; they would have a different position if they could, but they felt threatened by the governor and loss of funding,” Gomez-Tejeda said.
Another agreement the county has with ICE would likely be easier to adjust or step back from, according to advocates. Wilson said the county’s Intergovernmental Services Agreement allowing federal agents to temporarily house detainees locally has been effective since the 1980s.
“It is being used in a completely different way now,” Wilson said.
But, since the county has more control over the IGSA than the 287(g), “we have an opportunity to still really get a handle on what's happening in our corrections facility,” Wilson said.
To Wilson’s request Tuesday to set a date to revisit a discussion on the county’s relationship with ICE, Demings said the discussion would happen “at some point” without specifying a date.
In the meantime, Demings said, the county is providing detainees in its custody with due process to the fullest extent that it can, including the opportunity for phone calls to family members and attorneys.
“There are other things that could be done, but as you well know, it rests under the federal system and not under anything that we have control,” Demings said. “I do believe that every person who enters into our jail is not missing because of any actions of Orange County government.”
But even as the county needs time to act, advocates said Tuesday their communities don’t have time to wait.
“In Orange County, hardworking community members are being detained and jailed for minor traffic violations or while showing up for their regular immigration appointments,” said Hope CommUnity Center Executive Director Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet, who is running for Florida House District 42 as a Democrat.
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“This is not normal. This cannot continue under our name,” Sousa-Lazaballet said. “Even when you follow the law, even when you do what they say, they take you.”
To Wilson, for many of those being detained and in some cases deported in Central Florida, it doesn’t appear that due process is happening. She said she’d love to be proven wrong.
“If we're wrong, and there's a process that's operating that's providing those due process rights, and they're running it the way that should be run under the U.S. Constitution, it should be easy to show us that,” Wilson said. “And we haven't seen that.”
