Democratic councilors held hands while they were crying during a city meeting to decide whether the police in Florida should perform immigration enforcement operations.
The members of the Fort Myers city council were three votes spread over the issue in which immigration and customs enforcement officers would have seen their own local authorities.
In a tearful exchange, councilor Darla Bonk said: “It is a tumultuous day and age, and it is a day that I hate in this chair, but my city is not for sale.”
She grabbed her colleague, the hand of Diana Giraldo while both women wipe away and wipe tears before buried her head in her hands.
Giraldo then said: 'I can't support this as an immigrant, the only immigrant in this council.
“Although this is not about me, I have been in that position, and I can't even express how heavy this is in my heart and in my mind, knowing that the majority of us who come as immigrants do not come here to commit crimes.”
The impasse stopped the motion, and mayor Kevin Anderson, who voted for the proposal, feared that it could influence state and federal financing.
The members of the Fort Myers city council were three votes spread over the issue in which immigration and customs enforcement officers would have seen their own local authorities. Darla Bonk (second from the right) was so emotional that she buried her head in her hands at a certain stage
She grabbed her colleague, the hand of Diana Giraldo while both women wipe away and wipe tears before buried her head in her hands
“We have endangered hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidy money,” he said.
“This is a subsidy on which we depend on, and if we are willing to sacrifice this subsidy for people who do not have the legal right to be here, the burden of replacing that subsidy money, if we want these programs to continue or these projects, will fall on our taxpayers.”
The Attorney General James Uthmeier of Florida promised to start a full investigation into the case, warning: 'These actions of the council members are probably Afoul from the statute of Florida.
“In Florida we do not allow local authorities to allow our mission to support the federal government in combating illegal immigration.”
But the women expressed their concern about the broader consequences and possible fall -out of racial profiling.
It comes when immigration activist Jeanette Vizguerra was reportedly held by ICE on Monday morning.
The mother of four arrived in the United States without the correct documentation in 1997, travel from Mexico City.
In the two decades since arrival, she has searched for citizenship. Vizguerra was first planned for deportation in 2017, but sought refuge in a church in Denver.
It comes when immigration activist Jeanette Vizguerra was reportedly held by ICE on Monday morning
The mother of four arrived in the United States without the correct documentation in 1997, travel from Mexico City
The Biden administration later granted Vizguerra a stay of deportation in 2021.
On his return to the White House, Trump carried out a new executive order that has withdrawn guidelines that prevent officers from entering 'sensitive locations' such as churches, schools and hospitals to perform arrests.
Vizguerra had warned 'everyone runs risk' after the return of Trump to the office.
“Whatever place. I don't care if it is a hospital, I don't care if it is a school, I don't care if it is a church … I don't care if some people here have 40, 50 years. '
Colorado -Democrat Michael Bennet said that Vizguerra 'is a mother and pillar in her community' in a position that condemns her arrest.
'I am very worried about the actions of ICE to hold her without any praised process, such as a deportation order. ICE must ensure that Jeanette has a legal adviser and immediately releases her. '
Mayor Van Denver, Mike Johnston, also weighed in and argued: 'This is not immigration.
Her detention led to a protest outside an ice prison center in Aurora, where her family said she is being held
Buses left the facility in the morning and argued that she would be deported, but her family said that Vizguerra was there later in the day
'This is Soviet style, political persecution of political dissidents under the guise of enforcement of immigration. This is a mother of American citizens who works at Target. This is not something that makes our community safer. '
But an ICE spokesperson said that Vizguerra has two convictions of crimes.
In 2009 she was pulled at a traffic stop and turned out to be without a driver's license.
It was later discovered that she used a fake Sofin number to get her working documents, the spokesperson said.
Her detention led to a protest outside an ice detention center in Aurora, where her family said she is being held.
Buses left the facility in the morning and argued that she would be deported, but her family said that Vizguerra was there later in the day.
