TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – City and county officials, law enforcement and community members came together Wednesday for a first-of-its-kind immigration forum hosted by Leon County Indivisible.
A full room of community members gathered to hear from a panel of elected officials and local leaders. Organizers with Leon County Indivisible say the goal of the forum was to bring people together and start open conversations about what kind of immigration enforcement has or hasn’t been happening in our city.
Cheryl Gratt, founder of Leon County Indivisible, said, “The most important thing that people can do is communicate, and this allows people to communicate and for us to hear from those people personally.”
Among the panelists was Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil, who answered questions about law enforcement cooperation and the 287(g) agreements. He said his office doesn’t have a choice.
“I am taken aback that someone would believe that, as your elected sheriff, we’re going out trying to round up people simply because we want to,” McNeil said. “I am a constitutional officer. I have to follow the Constitution. If the Constitution of the State of Florida changes, then I have to decide, based on that change, whether I step down as sheriff, and I will if it gets to the point where I can’t abide by what the federal government is saying or what our governor is saying.”
Also on the panel, Elizabeth Ricci, an immigration law expert, said she attended to share facts and encourage people to know their rights.
“Immigration has become a hot topic in Tallahassee with the raid last, I guess it was May. And everybody in our community has a right to know what is going on and what they can do about it. I would like to encourage you to know your rights,” Ricci said.
Leon County Commissioner Rick Minor also spoke Wednesday night, explaining his reasoning following a 6–1 vote earlier this year in which the Leon County Commission approved accepting a grant from Florida’s immigration board to reimburse the sheriff’s office for costs related to enforcing immigration law.
“I’ve gotten a lot of people who have been angry with us about that vote, the six of us who voted yes, but I wanted to tell you that I think these grants are divisive by design,” Minor said. “Basically, we were forced to make a decision. It wasn’t a vote about supporting ICE or not supporting ICE. It was a vote on who pays for the assistance that our sheriff’s office provides to us.”
Leon County Indivisible founder Cheryl Gratt said she felt Wednesday night’s conversation was productive and that the group hopes to host similar forums in the future.