I was baffled a couple weeks ago when friends and local officials seemed shocked that the Key West police chief and the Monroe County sheriff had signed 287(g) memorandums of agreement with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Both had signed task force memos with ICE, agreeing to designate and train selected city and county officers to function as ICE officers. Sheriff Rick Ramsay signed on Feb. 24 and Chief Sean Brandenburg followed on March 4. Patrick McCullah, the county’s general counsel, signed off for Monroe County. The Key West memo was reviewed and approved by then-City Attorney Ron Ramsingh. 
Somewhere in the datasphere that’s my brain, I knew that those MOAs were in place. State news stories had for months been reporting that all 67 Florida sheriffs had signed on and other databases were tracking participants. Gov. Ron DeSantis had made it clear that Florida law enforcement needed to step up, threatening those who didn’t sign with removal from office, fines and other disciplinary actions.
The 1996 Section 287(g) of the vast body of U.S. immigration law allows local law enforcement to perform specific ICE duties under certain circumstances. Key West and Monroe County have had some variation of those agreements with the feds for years. For the most part 287(g) memos have been uncontroversial, in part because city and county law enforcement make their top priority public safety, not immigration enforcement.
Both Brandenburg and Ramsay have reaffirmed those positions this month. They, like local law enforcement leaders around the state, walk a delicate line between following state and federal mandates and doing the right things at home.
“The Key West Police Department is conducting our regular law enforcement functions,” wrote Chief Brandenburg in a mid-June memo to City Manager Brian Barroso. “The Key West Police Department is not conducting any Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. As always, when requested, we provide assistance to our County, State or Federal partners.”So why, seemingly all of a sudden, was what historically has been pro-forma paperwork escalating to “what were they thinking” headlines, especially in Key West?
Simple: Those decades-long MOAs haven’t been on public radar until now, when five months of aggressive federal and state immigration enforcement has become synonymous with the disappearance of our neighbors, friends, families, staff and coworkers. Though there’s scant, if any, proof that deputies and cops are on the front lines of ICE enforcement, there’s often a local cop car close by when ICE is on the move — and there is plenty of evidence that ICE is out in force in the Florida Keys.
In Key West, if not officially in the county, residents and City Commissioner Sam Kaufman are asking: Why didn’t commissioners get a chance to discuss and vote on this latest MOA?
Key West’s 287(g) | It’s complicated
Good question. I reviewed six months of county and city meeting agendas and minutes and found no mention of the new 287(g) MOAs. That’s likely because commission-level approval isn’t required, though in today’s politically charged environment, it would seem prudent to get a supporting resolution on the agenda if for no other reason than full and public transparency on what law enforcement will — and won’t — do.
If Key West commissioners can spend 12 minutes approving a resolution to change the name of a department, as they did on April 1 when they renamed Code Compliance to Code Enforcement, surely they should have had the opportunity to give thumbs up or down to an immigration enforcement agreement that potentially puts local police and residents in untenable positions.
The city commission has scheduled a special public meeting for 5 p.m., Monday, June 30, to discuss the MOA and its implications. I’d like to see two things come out of the meeting:
No. 1: Approve the MOA. Given the preemptive DeSantis mandate that all Florida law enforcement sign on to this latest MOA or face repercussions, refusing is tantamount to daring the governor to replace Brandenburg, if not also dissenting commissioners. I don’t want to see Brandenburg, or Ramsay, out of a job and us with ICE-too-friendly replacements.
No. 2: Unanimously reaffirm the May 16, 2017, “welcoming city” resolution. That resolution makes clear the city’s commitments to public safety, an inclusive culture, assurance that no one fears interacting with local government, access to public services regardless of immigration status and a promise that ours will be a police force that cooperates with federal authorities whenever it is appropriate — and that means no inquiries about immigration status unless it is essential for law enforcement.
That resolution has stood us well for almost a decade. Time to re-up.
Learn more
https://www.cityofkeywest-fl.gov/1161/Immigration-Enforcement-Information
https://www.cityofkeywest-fl.gov/DocumentCenter/View/13618/Resolution-17-150-City-Services-PDF
https://www.cityofkeywest-fl.gov/DocumentCenter/View/13616/KWPD-MOA-287g-Task-Force-Model-PDF
https://www.cityofkeywest-fl.gov/DocumentCenter/View/13617/MCSO-MOA-287g-Task-Force-Model-PDF
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