Miami commissioners cautious with answers on whether they’ll vote for ICE agreement
Update: The meeting scheduled for Thursday, June 12, has been postponed to Tuesday, June 17.
South Florida’s largest city could deputize its police officers with immigration enforcement powers later this week, adding to a growing sense of uncertainty in the region as the Trump administration carries out its full-forced crackdown on immigration.
On Thursday, the Miami City Commission is scheduled to vote to enter into what’s known as a 287(g) agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The city would join the “task force” model, which allows police officers to conduct immigration enforcement functions during routine work and to question, arrest and detain people suspected of violating immigration law.
However, despite the fact that the agreement is on Thursday’s meeting agenda, two city commissioners told the Miami Herald that the item might be deferred for the second time. The commission previously deferred the item in April in order to postpone the vote until after the June 3 special election to replace the late Commissioner Manolo Reyes.
Commissioner Joe Carollo declined to say whether he plans to vote in favor of the agreement but said he has been monitoring the protests against ICE in Los Angeles, where Trump deployed the National Guard.
Asked where he stands on the 287(g) agreement, Carollo said he’s “certainly looking carefully” at Los Angeles, which he said has “frankly been a factor in the way that I’m gonna be going at this.”
Commissioner Damian Pardo said in a statement that “as a life long advocate for a legal path for US citizenship and a supporter of TPS, I am not in favor of 287(g).”
“Regardless of how well this plan may be implemented by local enforcement agencies, and in addition to the human rights considerations, I am very concerned with the hostile climate these policies create for immigrants,” Pardo said.
He added that the city’s economy is boosted by the “inflow of business from Latin America, the Caribbean and Europe.”
“Our city has benefited enormously from our attraction as a destination to the international community,” Pardo added. “I would argue that attraction is the ‘Magic’ in the Magic city. Let’s keep it that way.”
Both Carollo and Pardo said the item would likely be deferred.
READ MORE: What the end of CHNV parole program means for a half-million migrants, many in Florida
The City Commission was scheduled to take its vote on June 12, which will be the first commission meeting for newly elected District 4 Commissioner Ralph Rosado. According to voting map data, over 90% of voting-age citizens in District 4 are Hispanic, meaning Rosado’s district has the largest concentration of Hispanics in the city’s five voting districts.
Speaking at his election night watch party last week, the freshman commissioner said he hadn’t decided yet how he will vote on the 287(g) agreement.
“I’ve been discussing it with a number of people,” Rosado said, adding that he has “a series of legal questions” that he wants to ask the city attorney before making a decision.
Commissioner Christine King, who is also the commission chairwoman, declined to comment on the ICE agreement before the item goes to the City Commission for discussion. Reached Monday, Commissioner Miguel Angel Gabela said he would get back to the Herald at a later time with a comment.
Mayor Francis Suarez, who does not have a vote on the commission but who does have veto power, did not respond to a request asking whether he supports the city entering the 287(g) agreement.
A city spokesperson said Monday that it is “too premature” to say whether the item will be deferred. She did not directly respond to questions asking if a potential deferral was related to current events like the L.A. protests or the travel ban that went into effect Monday.
Municipal and local police departments are not explicitly required to join 287(g) agreements, but Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier have argued that under the state’s sanctuary law, they are mandated to do so.
Uthmeier threatened to punish Fort Myers City Council members earlier this year when they declined to enroll in the program. Still, most Miami-Dade cities, including Miami Beach and Miami Gardens, have yet to join the program, according to ICE’s database for participating agencies.
Entering the 287(g) agreement could have a major impact in Miami, where about 58% of residents are foreign born and over 70% are Hispanic or Latino, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. With just under a half-million people, Miami is the largest city in Miami-Dade County and the second largest in Florida.
Miami would join a list of other Miami-Dade cities that have entered 287(g) agreements in recent months, including Hialeah, Sweetwater, Coral Gables, West Miami, Sunny Isles Beach and Miami Springs.
If it happens this week, the City Commission vote would land at a time of increased uncertainty for non-citizens, with the Trump administration implementing a series of immigration policies in recent weeks that have targeted communities with large populations in South Florida.
In addition to Monday’s travel ban, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled late last month in favor of a Trump administration plan that ended the humanitarian parole program known as CHNV, which allowed people from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to legally enter the United States. The decision affects more than 500,000 migrants who were granted temporary legal status.
This story was originally published June 10, 2025 at 12:12 PM.
.jpg)