Chaos at Miami-Dade commission as officers drag out objector to new ICE jails agreement

Chaos erupted at a Miami-Dade County Commission meeting on Thursday as an opponent of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agreement with county jails was dragged out of the chambers after objecting to the board declining to vote on the deal.

County sheriff’s deputies dragged out a 36-year-old woman who ignored an officer who told her not to speak as the commission’s chair, Anthony Rodriguez, explained he would bar future public comments on the issue if any person chose to speak at Thursday’s meeting. Camila Ramos collided with a sign as multiple deputies dragged her out of the chambers and was pushed to the floor in the lobby before being removed to a commission office. The chaos prompted other small scuffles with law enforcement during a chaotic confrontation outside the second-floor chambers at the Stephen P. Clark Center in downtown Miami.

The incidents marked the most chaotic moment at the commission chambers since the board agreed in 2017, during the first weeks of the first Trump administration, to extend jail time for local inmates sought by ICE for deportation.

Earlier this year, Miami-Dade approved a formal cooperation agreement with ICE for the county jail system. Those agreements are now mandated by Florida law. The item on the agenda Thursday was a modification of that agreement that included reimbursement provisions for local inmates held at Miami-Dade jails when they are sought for deportation. Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, a Democrat, recommended approval.

But before the scheduled vote, Rodriguez introduced a last-minute item to keep the controversial issue away from the commission. His legislation granted Levine Cava the authority to sign any agreement needed with Florida or the federal government, and retroactively dated that power to take effect in March — when Levine Cava signed the disputed ICE agreement on jails. The Rodriguez item passed without the public having a chance to address commissioners.

That set the stage for commissioners to avoid voting on the ICE agreement on the agenda.

Commissioner Oliver Gilbert asked to defer the vote indefinitely because Levine Cava had already signed the agreement. Rodriguez agreed and told the audience they could still speak on the item, but if it ever came up for a vote again, there would not be a second opportunity for anybody to speak in the future.

Ramos was already near the dais, awaiting her chance to speak. She asked for clarification on Rodriguez’s instructions when a plain-clothes deputy told her to remain silent. She objected and then was forcibly moved from where she stood. Members of the audience objected, with multiple people following her and the deputies outside the chambers. That prompted orders for people to stand back as Ramos was pushed to the ground by deputies.

The modification of a cooperation agreement that Florida law mandates for all jails brought warnings of ICE being able to “disappear” inmates whose names would otherwise be listed on a public county website for loved ones to search. County administrators denied that and said the disputed restrictions on public records in the new agreement already exist under federal law. Levine Cava’s administration said the agreement on Thursday’s agenda is required by Florida law.

“This is not something about which I have a choice,” Levine Cava said later in the meeting. “This is the law. ... It doesn’t mean it is the wish of this body.”

Arrest reports released by the Sheriff’s Office on Thursday afternoon showed Ramos was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting an officer with violence. A second person at the meeting, Z Spicer, 25, had a confrontation with police outside the chambers and was charged with resisting an officer without violence.

This story was originally published June 26, 2025 at 11:14 AM.