by Ethan Maia de Needell, Immigrant Programs Manager, Rural Women’s Health Project
The landscape of immigration enforcement in Florida (and the country) has shifted dramatically in just a little over a year. These changes have culminated in the Sunshine State becoming the national leader in immigration arrests.
Unfortunately, our city, county, and region are in no way immune from this new reality, despite the lack of visibility and media which prevents many Floridians from noticing.
Standing in support of our immigrant neighbors is critical in these times, and the Gainesville Immigrant Neighbor Inclusion Initiative (GINI) has been gathering signatures from residents throughout our county for our petition (tinyurl.com/Iguana2483) calling on our elected officials to do just that.
One of the demands in the GINI Petition requests our city and county commissioners to denounce the “indiscriminate and destructive arrests of our neighbors,” as was done in March by Governor DeSantis-appointed sheriffs to his newly formed State Board of Immigration Enforcement. While partnerships between Florida’s local law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and ICE, through “287(g) agreements”, have been in place for several years, it wasn’t until 2025 that the Governor DeSantis administration began to push that all agencies join the most harmful model of the 287(g) — the task force model. This model requires the signing LEA to nominate a number of their officers to train and become certified to make immigration arrests on behalf of ICE. Florida law requires all sheriff’s offices in Florida to enter into a 287(g) agreement, all other LEAs have done so out of agreement, ignorance, or pressure. At this time, Florida also leads the nation in ICE arrests through these agreements. The most aggressive LEA perpetrating indiscriminate immigration arrests in our state is the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP), which has certified their entire force, including the creation of their own immigration enforcement unit.
At least 25 percent of those who have been arrested in our state have committed no crime — most of those charged are for minor criminal traffic offenses like driving without a license, and less than 1 percent of those arrested have any known gang affiliation.
FHP was also recently reported to racially profile drivers for traffic stops, with Hispanic drivers being twice as likely to be pulled over than white drivers — and this was before FHP even signed their agreement with ICE.
We need our leaders to have the courage to lead, and calling out these illicit actions and strategies by immigration enforcement is the least we should expect.
Another demand by the GINI Petition is calling on our local commissioners to publicly announce their opposition to ICE’s encroachment into our community.
(See story on page 32 for an update on the proposed Bradford County Detention Center.)
Years-long established detention centers like Baker County Detention Center and Glades County Detention Center, both a fraction of the size proposed for Starke, have shown a systemic pattern of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, lack of food and medicine for detainees, and lack of contact with anyone outside (including attorneys and faith leaders).
Unfortunately, Gainesville is also within ICE’s scope as they expand their presence nationwide. A recently published “Request for Information” by the agency explicitly targets Gainesville (as well as other cities across the country) as it pursues a new strategy of leasing empty, readily-available office spaces for their officers and attorneys, often without any local awareness and bypassing the regular bidding process.
Though it may not be within their scope to prevent an office being established here or a detention center built in another county, our commissioners should take the example of Orange County and publicly state they are not in support of such expansion into our community. Our immigrant neighbors, upon whom we all depend, deserve to know that the city and county they live and work in has their backs.
This is why another demand from the GINI Petition is calling on our elected leaders to reiterate their support for immigrant inclusion and safety.
When GINI was first created in 2021, there was a more formal partnership between our alliance and the city of Gainesville and Alachua County. This working relationship resulted in the creation of the GINI Immigrant Inclusion Blueprint, a comprehensive outline of specific actions and strategies we as a community, especially our public institutions, can take to improve the safety and inclusion of our immigrant neighbors.
While there have been many important steps taken by our county and city towards this end (interpretation lines available, positions created, funding for translation, etc.), there have been many obstacles along the way which have yet to be surmounted. Beyond language access, our local institutions have not adequately bridged the gap to interact directly with the immigrant community.
During a time filled with fear, isolation, and mistrust of local government, that gap is often filled with misinformation and rumors as impacted communities desperately seek out answers to their questions and concerns.
Our leaders must make the effort to reach out to our immigrant neighbors and demonstrate why they are safe to go to the hospital during an emergency, that victims of crime can reach out to local law enforcement, that their children can go to school, and that there is recourse available should their rights be violated.
Therefore we request our commissioners to take the steps and form the relationships necessary to begin addressing those needs.
However, this responsibility cannot solely lay on our local elected leaders — this is a call to action we must all take. Sign onto our petition, find ways to get involved locally, and feel free to reach out to GINI@rwhp.org if you want to learn how to help!
See gini-initiative.org for more information.