In the last weeks of the year is the Key area Floridaknown as Tourist attraction that attracts thousands of travelersHE became a focus of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The area has an opportunity to enter and leave And Hundreds of immigrants have been detained there in recent months.
ICE agents launched immigration raids a large-scale offensive on the A1A Overseas Highway. This way connects the Keys areain the extreme south, with the mainland part of the state. That’s where federal officials started doing it Check license plates and detain people with irregular status.
According to the organization Migrant connectionKey West Immigrant Support Network (KWISN) claims to have documented more than 300 arrests since June. Most of these arrests were incidents occurred during vehicle checks.
Heather Slivko-Bathurst, the organization’s founder, was most vocal about this inferior to people custody was Parents who supported their children financially.
The Keys area is of particular strategic importance to federal agents. The scene of the arrests is A1A Overseas Highway an area frequently visited by immigrants and tourists. Since there is no other way, foreigners fall into the “trap” of immigration officials.
In addition, in June Key West signed a cooperative agreement with federal authorities known as 287(g)..
Although local police officers have denied making immigration arrests, one of the local commissioners claimed to have documented these operations, adding that they needed to be resolved in a few minutes, but they continued for a long time half an hour or more.
One of the most striking cases occurred in early December, when agents They stopped a woman driving a white Toyota Corolla and surrounded the vehicle. The case became relevant because the woman screamed during her detention: “I am an American citizen, please help me. That is unfair. Why are they doing this to me?“.
Immigration officials then loaded her into the patrol car. The arrest was made as part of the operation at Rowell’s Waterfront Park, at mile 104.5, adjacent to Key Largo Bay. When you check your status, Hours later they released her accordingly The new herald.
The woman’s arrest came weeks after an operation by the Customs and Border Protection (CBP, for the English acronym). Late November, officials They used air support and arrested twelve undocumented immigrants. In this case, the foreigners had a background:
Additionally, Lake Worth Beach activists staged a beach protest in December over the escalating arrests.
They put up signs saying “He ICE kidnapped a community member here” and the The Florida Highway Patrol kidnapped someone here“.
According to Mariana Blanco, operations manager of the center, quoted by WLRNThe messages were in areas where they were being watched or followed.Abduction and enforced disappearance of migrants“.
The Intensification of operations is currently taking place in the Florida Keys is contrary to the spirit of the region.
In 1982 The city symbolically declared its independence from the United States In Protest against border checkpoint. Then Conch Republic was launched at the initiative of then-Mayor Dennis Wardlow.
Four decades later, the road that connects the archipelago to the rest of the state is located full of immigration controls.
Aside from intensifying operations, CBP officers are also using a different tactic to detain immigrants in the Sunshine State.
A study published by Associated Press revealed that the agency uses a network of cameras Scan and record vehicle license plate information.
In this system, an algorithm identifies drivers based on: where they came from, their destination and the route they took.
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