We must protect our civil liberties
To the editor:
I’m writing in response to the Cape Coral Breeze’s online publication of Councilmember Giraldo’s statement on March 21, 2025: Statement from Diana Giraldo, Ward 2 Councilmember, City of Fort Myers.
I am deeply disturbed that the Fort Myers City Council continues to support a Florida law-namely, the 287(g) program-that has been proven ineffective in improving the detainment of immigrants who are in the country without legal status. The 287(g) program authorizes local law enforcement officers, in the course of routine policing, to question and arrest individuals they suspect of violating federal immigration laws and to issue ICE detainers.
A study analyzing data from 2005 to 2014 found that immigrant and Latino communities experienced increased victimization under the 287(g) program. The analysis showed that the immigration enforcement cooperation frameworks examined failed to reduce violent crime. In fact, “the only statistically significant findings were associations between the Section 287(g) and Secure Communities initiatives and an increased risk of violent victimization. Secure Communities raised the risk for the general population and especially for Latino respondents. Section 287(g)’s task force model was similarly associated with greater risk of violent victimization for Latinos.”
Current executive-level efforts to target so-called “violent offenders” who are undocumented appear to be little more than a smokescreen for the surveillance and targeting of visible minority communities. The role of law enforcement is to reduce crime and detain individuals who break the law-regardless of immigration status. Police already possess the tools and authority to carry out this responsibility. Diverting resources to immigration enforcement under the guise of public safety doesn’t make communities safer-it places families, especially those of mixed immigration status, at greater risk of being torn apart. It enables ICE raids that ensnare long-time residents, even those married to U.S.-born citizens.
Immigrants, like all people, cannot be neatly categorized as “good” or “bad.” Like U.S. citizens, they sometimes make mistakes-such as DUIs, often committed by migrant farmworkers who labor under some of the harshest conditions and thus may turn to alcohol to cope with their living and work conditions. They continue to work under these conditions because they are desperate as in their home countries jobs do not exist for them, and the low wages we offer to harvest crops many Americans refuse to pick at these same wages, yet still expect to purchase at low prices-is better than nothing. Others charged with violent crimes may be youth who arrived in this country as children and, like many American youth, have been shaped by socio-economic hardship, gang recruitment, and lack of access to mental health care. Furthermore, undocumented immigrants contribute significantly to our social services: $25.7 billion in Social Security taxes and $6.4 billion in Medicare taxes in 2022. Both these programs undocumented immigrants are ineligible for.
ICE has a long history of employing racial profiling and intimidation tactics that instill fear, confusion, and mistrust in communities. I fear those tactics will continue-and even intensify-given today’s political climate. Local police may feel pressured to follow suit, resorting to deceptive practices such as impersonating probation officers or initiating unnecessary traffic stops. This erosion of trust will only deepen the divide between police and the communities they are supposed to serve.
Training local officers under the 287(g) program does not improve the apprehension of undocumented immigrants who have committed serious crimes. Florida has benefited economically and culturally from its diverse population-especially from Latino communities that have enriched our food, music, agriculture, and entertainment sectors. That so many in our community, including elected officials, would support such programs is deeply troubling.
As someone who has witnessed harsh immigration enforcement firsthand-being questioned as a Latina-presenting person in the 1990s, and later profiled as Middle Eastern in airports post-9/11 and today-I can attest to the widespread use of racial profiling in immigration enforcement. It has little to do with legitimate suspicion and everything to do with appearance.
It has long been shown that immigrants are not just vital to our economy-they are often the engine behind the revitalization of struggling cities. Yet immigration is being weaponized to halt the “browning” of America, a demographic shift that is both natural and inevitable. It is also being used to suppress dissent, particularly among those who challenge the government’s stance on crises like Gaza.
We are seeing these tactics extended to universities, where academic freedom, campus protests, and DEI policies are under attack. Even law firms are being pressured, and journalists from disfavored outlets are being silenced.
Councilmember Giraldo claims this is simply a vote on training. But it is more than that. When intimidation is reportedly being exercised by the Governor we should all be concerned about threats to home rule and democratic governance.
Many Fort Myers and Cape Coral residents may view immigration, campus protests, and media suppression as distant issues. But that’s precisely why these measures are being tested-because many assume they won’t be affected. But if we allow these civil rights to be chipped away unnoticed, it won’t be long before we all feel their loss. The right to travel freely, to protest unjust laws, to question authority-these liberties are fragile and can disappear before we realize it.
I’ll always remember what my first-year criminal law professor told us: “Once we allow our civil liberties to be taken, it is a steep and dark road to regain them.”
We must not go down that road.
Aishia Glasford
Cape Coral