APOPKA, Fla. – Immigrant advocates and Democratic lawmakers urged the public to speak out against the increasing reported presence of ICE agents in Central Florida on Monday, and to protest plans to open an ICE detainment center in Orange County.
At a news conference at Hope CommUnity Center in Apopka, leaders said they had already held one session to train 300 new legal observers last week, and handed out hundreds of whistles and thousands of “Know Your Rights” cards. But they say they need more people to get involved.
“Those who live in proximity to privilege must be on the frontline of this fight. If you are safe, you should be standing with those who are not. If you are protected, you should be advocating for those who are exposed. If you benefit from this system, you should be working to remake it," said State Sen. LaVon Bracy Davis, D-Ocoee.
"Everybody doesn’t have to do everything, but everybody can do something and you all got to do something right now," said Corey Hill, an organizer for Orlando 50501.
Advocates said the news of ICE’s presence has immigrant communities fearing for their lives, particularly among Venezuelan and Haitian immigrants who were in the country under Temporary Protected Status programs that were ended by the Trump administration last year.
“Nearly 1 million people in this state, many of them Venezuelan or Haitian, have gone from having lawful status under temporary protected status to now being pretty much fully undocumented. These folks work, pay taxes, attend our churches, run our businesses, and keep our economy moving,” said Samuel Vilchez Santiago, Orange County Democratic Party chair and member of the Venezuelan American Caucus.
[WATCH: Rep. Frost: ICE has made ‘pretty large’ hotel reservations in Central Florida]
News 6 has been digging into increased ICE activity around the Orlando area.
Last week, Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Orlando, said his office had confirmed that ICE had made a large number of hotel room reservations in the area. Frost and other lawmakers also say they’re hearing more from constituents about ICE agents in the area, looking for people to detain.
The Orange County Corrections Department, which has an agreement to hold ICE detainees, told News 6 that there had been 831 bookings with immigration holds at the Orange County Jail since the start of the year.
Then on Friday, News 6 was there as ICE representatives toured a warehouse facility in East Orange County as they looked for a place to open a detainment center.
Orange County Commissioner Nicole Wilson and State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, said they would not have known what ICE was doing if it wasn’t for the local news and independent reporting.
“No information actually came from the federal government, came from the state government,” Eskamani said. “And when I spoke to the city of Orlando about it, they were completely clueless. No one had even contacted the police department. Typically, law enforcement talks to law enforcement across the jurisdictions. And so they’re operating in the shadows.”
Frost said he was a “strong no” on a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, which the U.S. House may vote on this month.
"Not one penny. Not one penny of our taxpayer dollars should go to fund an agency that is obviously operating with impunity, and feels like they can do whatever they want, and a president that has told them, do whatever you want," Frost said.
Not everyone is against the idea of opening an ICE facility in the area.
Lake County Commissioner Anthony Sabatini told News 6 this was a common-sense solution.
“The jails are basically full, and the reimbursement isn’t there either, so taxpayers are actually getting hit,” he said.
“I hope it’s clean, orderly, well run and respects people, but at the end of the day, gets the job done,” Sabatini added.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has been a fervent supporter of the federal crackdown on immigration, pushing laws that force local governments to sign the interlocal agreements with ICE, having state law enforcement officers like the Florida Highway Patrol work with federal agents, and building detention centers like “Alligator Alcatraz” in South Florida.
Earlier this month, DeSantis said the state’s “Operation Tidal Wave” crackdown had arrested over 10,000 people. DeSantis said 63% of those had criminal arrests or convictions.
“Although you don’t have to have committed a crime to be subject to immigration enforcement,” DeSantis said. “If you’ve come illegally, that is the offense."
Wilson said she would try to fight any attempt to put a detainment center in Orange County, saying she questions whether the facility in the Lake Nona area could handle such a facility.
[WATCH: ICE tours Orlando warehouse as possible detainment center]
“This wasn’t built for human beings to be located in,” Wilson said. “And, you know, I think we can all agree about the humanitarian issues with loading docks being built with cots. But what we may not really understand is also that that is not set up for the type of waste collection that that’s going to require, that’s at the very back of a corporate park that has, that has seven other corporate neighbors with large amounts of heavy equipment coming and going. This is a logistical issue as much as it is a humanitarian issue.”
Wilson shared with News 6 a memo she wrote to Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings and her colleagues on Orange County Commission Monday, proposing an ordinance to impose a temporary moratorium on all non-municipal detention facilities.
The memo does not mention the facility on Transport Drive, but Wilson said she drafted it in response to the federal government confirming its interest in the warehouse.
A temporary moratorium, Wilson wrote in the memo, would “pause approvals while staff conducts a comprehensive evaluation of land use compatibility, environmental and infrastructure impacts, and economic considerations, and while the Board considers whether additional policy guidance or regulatory standards are necessary.”
Wilson acknowledged to News 6’s Mike Valente that the ordinance may not even apply in this case because the warehouse falls within the city of Orlando’s jurisdiction. Because of that, Wilson said, she shared her memo and draft ordinance with the city “so that they could potentially introduce a similar measure.”
She is requesting that the county commission consider the ordinance at the “earliest possible board meeting.”