Activists cheer Orlando policy on immigration-status queries
Orlando officials unanimously approved a policy Monday prohibiting city employees — including police officers — from asking a lawabiding person’s immigration status.
Throngs flooded a City Council meeting, with many choosing to testify to the council, and dozens more spilling into the lobby of City Hall. After the vote, roaring applause echoed throughout the building.
The vote solidified a city policy and pertains to anyone who reports a crime or witnesses criminal activity as well as anyone pulled over for non-criminal traffic violations.
“This is an emotional day because it’s a powerful day,” said Rasha Mubarak, a facilitator of the Trust Orlando Coalition, who pushed for the policy. “When we say that we’re making history, we’re not just making history; we’re on the right side of history.”
The resolution — formally called the Fair Treatment for All Trust Act Policy — was backed by more than three dozen social-justice and immigration organizations, including the Florida Farmworkers Association, the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association and Mi
Familia Vota.
Mayor Buddy Dyer and city commissioners Tony Ortiz, Regina Hill and Patty Sheehan appeared at a news conference and rally on the steps of City Hall before the meeting.
“If you simply report crime or you have a traffic stop, you will not be led to deportation,” Dyer said. “The Orlando Police Department is not in the business of immigration enforcement … we’re not protecting people that are committing crimes, but we’re not looking for people based on immigration status.”
A lone protester voiced his displeasure at the lunchtime media event and again after the commissioners voted. At the meeting, the man approached the dais but was removed from the meeting by police officers.
Officers led the man outside, and a few minutes later he was allowed to leave.
Wendy Doromal, president of the Orange County Classroom Teachers Association, supported the policy on behalf of the union.
“Our doors must remain open to every person regardless of their immigration status, religion, language, race, sexual orientation, gender identity or country of origin,” Doromal said.
Ortiz said the city wanted to be sure undocumented immigrants are not being preyed upon by criminals because they “think that you’re not going to cooperate with law enforcement.”
The resolution also reiterates that the city will not violate federal immigration laws, and Ortiz said Orlando is not seeking to become a sanctuary city.
Karen Caudillo, a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipient, said the policy will ease her fears.
“I have no words to express the gratitude of just knowing that I can go to the grocery store, I can go to school, I can go to the doctor, and I won’t be afraid of having an interaction with a police officer and being scared of being sent back to a country that I’ve never been to,” Caudillo said.