ORLANDO, Fla. — After hours-long debate, Orange County commissioners agreed to ratify a state statute requiring the jail to enter into a memorandum of agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Commissioners, though, say the conversation is not over and will continue discussions on April 22.

What You Need To Know

  • Prange County commissioners ratify a state statute to collaborate with ICE, despite concerns and a long debate

  • It allows trained law enforcement personnel to be able to “perform certain functions of an immigration officer,” including arresting undocumented immigrants in custody on state and local charges so they can be transferred to ICE

  • Several Orange County commissioners voiced concerns before and after the meeting

  • Gov. Ron DeSantis strongly supports local compliance with federal immigration laws, threatening criminal charges for non-cooperation

The agreement allows specially trained local law enforcement personnel would be allowed to perform some of the duties of an immigration officer — including the ability to arrest undocumented immigrants currently in custody on state and local charges, and transfer them to ICE.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been clear about his stance since sending out a memo to legislative leaders in January urging all local governments and law enforcement agencies to cooperate with the Department of Homeland Security to help enforce federal immigration law.

DeSantis has also openly stated that he will support criminally charging those who refuse to cooperate.

District 1 Commissioner Nicole Wilson says the agreement is a violation of constitutional rights, and believes the county is in a "horrible spot."

"The federal government to come in and just assume a role within the corrections facility and strong arm us — we really didn't have a choice here. It's alarming. It's troubling," Wilson said. "Being coerced is not the same as an agreement."

District 5 commissioner Kelly Semrad said she was initially surprised when she came across the immigration enforcement agreement when reviewing the consent agenda because there were no discussions about it beforehand.

Semrad said there are still a lot of questions that come into play, including those related to both financial and human resources.

She said she also worries about the consequences that the agreement could have. 

“There could be some costs that would be incurred by Orange County taxpayers. So to understand, are we going to get reimbursed?" Semrad said. "All such to look then at the corrections department, there are those employees that work there are stretched with very thin resources. Their pay is lower than what we would like to see. So, adding an additional amount of work onto their workload is another concern."

The memorandum is clear on that point, though: Any costs incurred by local law enforcement personnel performing ICE duties would be completely the responsibility of the local law enforcement agency, all the way down to the toner they use to print out paperwork.

In certain circumstances, the memorandum says ICE "may issue travel orders to selected personnel and reimburse travel, housing, and per diem expenses only."

Semrad said she also thinks it is important that anyone in custody who is at risk of being detained based on their immigration status knows what their rights are prior to the agreement being enacted.

“This should incorporate the use of the public defender’s office, making sure that we have data that’s coming in where we’re actually counting and we know what we’re dealing with in terms of resources that would be needed,” Semrad said.

In response, Semrad said she’s not concerned about “doing the right thing” for the people, but is rather worried about the Legislature passing laws like this and requiring local governments to comply.

Among those standing in opposition to the proposed agreement is the Immigrants are Welcome Here Coalition, which is made up of more than 30 local and state immigration advocacy groups.

On Tuesday, the coalition condemned the proposal, calling it a “threat to democracy.”

Mayor Jerry Demings says he understands the concerns from commissioners and the public, but reiterated that the law is the law.

"We hear you, we see you," Demings said. "But we don't have a good option at this point to not enforce the law."

Under the agreement, local law enforcement personnel would have to be nominated, pass a local — and potentially federal — background check, and then successfully complete ICE's training regiment. 

Once they successfully complete their training, local law enforcement personnel would only be able to carry out the ICE duties when expressly told to by the federal agency.

"Immigration enforcement activities conducted by participating LEA personnel will be supervised and directed by ICE," the memorandum states. "Participating LEA (law enforcement agency) personnel are not authorized to perform immigration officer functions except when working under the supervision or direction of ICE."

17 individuals at the Orange County Jail are expected to take part in the training.