MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Local 10 News reporter Glenna Milberg spoke Tuesday with Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez about his announcement that county jails will continue to comply with federal immigration guidelines.
Gimenez sparked a large protest outside County Hall last Friday after he announced that Miami-Dade County is not a "sanctuary community" for undocumented immigrants.
Another protest was held Tuesday afternoon outside County Hall, where people chanted, "Immigrants are welcome here. No hate, no fear."
"This is basically a gathering of people who are defending immigrants, and defending them on a local level and a national level," one of the protest organizers, Elizabeth Fernandez, said.
Gimenez clarified on Tuesday that the county does not know who in the county is undocumented, but said that the jails will comply with federal authorities who ask to detain certain people for 48 hours.
"Somehow they are on the federal government watchlist or radar, because we don't know they're illegal immigrants until the federal government says, 'Hey, by the way, we have an interest in that individual and we would like for you to detain them for 48 hours,'" Gimenez said.
"We don't even know when we put the information out who is in illegal immigrant or not, so obviously, the people the federal government want detained are actually on their database already."
The county complied with the 48-hour holds until 2013, when the commission decided to stop because of the hundreds of thousands in costs that the feds did not reimburse.
But that changed again last week after the Trump administration threatened to keep millions of dollars in funding from cities it deemed "sanctuary cities."
"(It's) best just to make sure we're not on the list to protect the federal funds that we have and maybe get in the future," Gimenez said.
Protesters last week called Gimenez a traitor and said that he was quick to cave in to President Donald Trump.
"We think it's outrageous that Mayor Gimenez, at the first hint of them taking away federal funds, caves into President Trump when mayors across the country are standing up for the immigrant community," one man said.
Gimenez took to Twitter after the protest to reassure Miami-Dade County residents that the Police Department is not an "immigration enforcement agency."
"My executive order did nothing to change that," he wrote. "Our residents should never fear that Miami-Dade police officers will request anyone’s immigration status."
Miami-Dade County Commissioner Daniella Levine Cava mailed a letter of concern to the mayor about how to honor the requests fairly, without jeopardizing the security of a largely immigrant community.
"Even if they are here lawfully, they will be living in fear. There will be some reprisals that any little infraction can lead to problems," Levine Cava said.
"There was also a broadening of the kinds of immigration status that would trigger interest (under the Trump administration), so that's really the fear."
Those concerns are likely to be discussed during next week's commission meeting.