North Bay Village commissioner pretended to be paralegal to see lover in ICE detention
A North Bay Village commissioner pretended to be a paralegal to see her romantic partner in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Miami during the COVID-19 pandemic when social visits were suspended.
Julianna Clare Strout, 36, on Wednesday pleaded guilty to three petty misdemeanors for attempting to enter and entering a federal facility using fraud and false pretenses. Magistrate Judge Chris M. McAliley sentenced Strout to one year probation and 50 hours of community service.
Strout has been a North Bay Village commissioner since 2018. Her term expires next month and she is not seeking reelection. The guilty plea would not affect her ability to run again in the future because the charges were misdemeanors, Strout’s attorneys Alexa Klein and Howard Srebnick told the Miami Herald.
Strout entered the Krome Service Processing Center in 2021 by lying about her reasons for the visit, telling ICE officials she worked as a paralegal at a law firm and needed to visit a detainee to have legal documents signed, according to a factual proffer. During the pandemic, Krome suspended visits with an exception for legal visitors.
Strout created a fraudulent visitation approval letter using a letterhead sent to her by an attorney she had contacted about representing her romantic partner in immigration court.
The law firm never authorized Strout to use its letterhead or visit the detention facility. She also never worked for the law firm, which was not named in the proffer.
The person she visited was also not named and is referred to only as “Individual 1.” They had been in a romantic relationship since July 2021 and the individual was being held in Krome Service Processing Center in mid-October 2021.
Strout visited the facility three times in October 2021, but was allowed entry once on Oct. 18. That day, Strout emailed ICE a fraudulent request for visitation letter and/or visitation approval to enter Krome, according to the factual proffer. She then went to the facility and presented the letter.
When Krome officers denied her entry, Strout explained she was a public official, presented her North Bay Village commissioner badge and asked to enter the facility on that basis. The issue was escalated to an ICE Supervisory Deportation Officer, whom Strout told she was a paralegal.
“Believing that Strout was an employee of Law Firm 1, and to permit Individual 1 access to legal representation and maintain cordial relations with Florida public officials, the ICE Supervisory Deportation Officer permitted Strout a limited duration legal visit as a paralegal for the sole purpose of having legal documents signed by Individual 1,” the proffer states.
After the meeting, the person Strout visited admitted the romantic relationship to ICE deportation officers and told them he did not want to see her.
Strout was denied entry on two subsequent trips to Krome – on Oct. 20 and Oct. 22, 2021. During her Oct. 22 attempt, an ICE Supervisory Deportation Officer informed her he’d contacted an attorney at the law firm where she claimed to work and verified she did not work there, according to the proffer.
In a final attempt to see her romantic partner, Strout tried to attend a Nov. 2, 2021, immigration court proceeding for him and identified herself as his wife.
She was denied entry, per the proffer, because she previously tried to enter Krome “under fraud and false pretenses.”
Miami Herald staff writer Jay Weaver contributed to this report.
This story was originally published October 27, 2022 at 7:50 PM.
