For Immediate Release: June 23, 2025
In a deeply embarrassing moment for the City of Miami, Commissioners Ralph Rosado, Miguel Gabela, and Joe Carollo voted last week to deputize local police as federal immigration agents— openly embracing a policy that will bring fear, trauma, and injustice to the communities they claim to represent. By voting to enter into a 287(g) agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Commissioners Gabela, Rosado, and Carollo chose fear over facts, political convenience over public service, and cowardice over basic human decency.
Mayor Francis Suarez will now have the opportunity to veto this legislation. We urge him to do so.
The City of Miami commission’s vote wasn’t a pragmatic decision, no matter the half-truths and excuses the three commissioners put out. As noted by fellow Commissioner Christine King, the only actual attorney on the board, choosing to sign the agreement was fully voluntary and unnecessary. By voting to volunteer, these commissioners went against the wishes of their constituents, hundreds of whom showed up on a Tuesday morning to ask them not to make life even more difficult for their residents.
Let’s be clear about what this vote means. Under the 287(g) program, local police officers will now act as immigration agents—trained by ICE, answering to ICE, and detaining people on ICE’s behalf. The Miami Police Department says that only three or so officers will participate, under supervision. But history—and the experience of other cities—shows how these programs metastasize. Even limited participation sends a chilling message to immigrant communities: Don’t call the police. Don’t report a crime. Don’t seek help. You might end up in detention, or worse, on a plane to a gulag in El Salvador.
Knowing how unpopular their decision might become, Carollo, Gabela, and Rosado hid behind the City Attorney George Wysong and Police Chief Manuel Morales. Both made the case for anticipatory compliance in lieu of providing clear-eyed guidance of the City’s legal obligations. Instead, they discussed threatening letters from the Florida Attorney-General and the possibility that the federal and state governments might get angry with the City of Miami and begin withholding grants. Wysong warned of “real consequences” if the city didn’t comply with the state’s interpretation of the law. Chief Morales spoke in vague terms about public safety, but offered no evidence that 287(g) would make the city any safer, and failed to respond to the vast evidence that it would make policing more difficult.
In a neighboring municipality, South Miami Mayor Javier Fernandez has asked a state judge to affirm that cities have no obligation to sign 287(g) agreements. The City of Miami could have followed their example. A common-sense motion to defer the vote, which would have allowed vital information to be gathered before accepting the agreement, was initially raised by Gabela and then inexplicably withdrawn.
And that’s where Tuesday’s vote is really an outrage. Beyond being bad policy that does not reflect the will of the overwhelming majority, the commissioners chose to accept the idea that they needed to vote for a bad ordinance, essentially to please Governor Ron DeSantis and President Donald Trump. That’s not government for, by, and of the people. That’s government by cowards, for bullies, and against the public interest. It’s government through weakness and dishonesty.
These same commissioners stood at the dais and said they care about humanity. They said they love immigrants and referenced their own family’s immigration from Cuba. It’s an experience many in our city share. But when the time came to act with courage and integrity, they voted to tear families apart. They needed to act like the men and women who welcomed our families when they fled Cuba, but they didn’t.
The hypocrisy is staggering. This vote is a betrayal of Miami’s identity, its values, and its history. It is a betrayal that will not be forgotten. Rosado, Gabela, and Carollo have shown us who they are—and Miami must hold them accountable.. They will claim this was a difficult vote, but it wasn’t.
The real difficulty will now be felt by mothers who won’t report domestic abuse, fathers who won’t go to work for fear of being pulled over, and children who will wait in vain for a parent who never comes home. They deserve to be part of the city we love – to live in peace and safety and freedom. They deserve the refuge our own families sought and received. No more and no less.
Email Mayor Francis Suarez today demand he veto this harmful legislation by going to bit.ly/veto287gmiami.
