Miami-Dade could go above and beyond to help ICE with local detainees

UPDATED: This item will be heard before the full commission on June 26.
Miami-Dade County is already cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials by holding anyone they arrest that has a deportation order or is wanted by ICE. Now, the county might help the federal government disappear these people.
A proposal in front of the county commission would basically remove information about any detainees whose information has been provided to ICE from the county’s portal or records custodian. It means family members would no longer know if their loved one is still here, moved to a facility in Arizona or Texas, or already deported.
So, more of our rights — this time to public information protected under Florida’s Sunshine Laws — are going to be eroded. This is only to help ICE disappear the people they have in custody. There is no other reason for it.
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Whose brilliant idea is this? Commissioner Roberto Gonzalez, arguably the most conservative right-wing elected on the county dais — remember, God told him to run for office — is sponsoring the measure. He posted something on social media last week that sounded so Trumpian and Ladra is sure he’s going to smile when he reads that.
“Miami-Dade is not and will not be a sanctuary county. I’m backing an item to formally approve our ICE agreement, already signed by the Mayor in March, as required by state law. We’ve honored detainers since 2019. This just ensures we get reimbursed,” Gonzalez wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Common sense is greater than politics.”
Like Charlie Cale in Poker Face would say: Bullshit.
The “basic ordering agreement” being considered makes “public disclosures” the purview of the federal government. Why does that have to be in there at all if it’s just about reimbursement?
Mayor Daniella Levine-Cava is apparently all for it. She’s already signed the agreement, though maybe it should have been signed by Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosanna “Rosie” Cordero-Stutz? There’s a line drawn through her title.
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Was it the $50 per day reimbursement per detainee? Is that going to help Levine Cava make up for the giant $400 million shortfall she is facing in next year’s budget. It’s a shameful revenue stream.
Besides, las malas lenguas say that the cost of holding a detainee is $180 a day.
Is this basically a modern-day 30 pieces of silver?
Commissioners should reject this further intrusion and erosion of our rights. This is not just about the detainee. It is about the residents — yes, even U.S. citizens, born or made — who have a right to the information about anyone who is being held in Miami-Dade corrections facilities.
We cannot condone living in a country where people disappear — physically or virtually.
The item was originally on the agenda for Monday’s Miami-Dade Policy Council, but that meeting was cancelled due to lack of a quorum. The commission meeting on June 26 can be viewed online here.
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