Immigration agents with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have removed at least 65 people from Key West and Stock Island since Aug. 1 as enhanced enforcement efforts continue and additional agents are seen around town.
“It actually could be as many as 75 or 80 people just this month,” said Lucy Hawk, co-founder of the nonprofit Key West Immigrant Support Network. The detainees have included mostly Hispanic and Haitian immigrants, with at least one eastern European resident also getting detained, Hawk said, encouraging residents who witness any detainments, arrests or harassment to film the episode with their phones. “If the officer asks, you have to stay 25 feet away. Don’t interfere, but photos and videos really help us with identifications to alert family members and friends.
“There is so much fear in our community right now,” Hawk said. “Some families didn’t send their first grader to school the first week because they were afraid they’d be detained at dropoff or pickup. Parents are afraid to meet their students at the bus stop in the afternoon, and these kids go to school with a backup plan in place of what to do if their mom or dad isn’t there to pick them up at the end of the day because they’ve been taken by CBP.”
The Key West Immigrants Support Network maintains an active social media presence, posting warnings and updates in English, French Creole and Spanish while also soliciting volunteers to help drive people to work, school or appointments.
“Agents are using license plate scanners to see if a vehicle is registered to an immigrant,” Hawk said. “In one case last week, a driver was detained despite having a green card.”
More than 20 Haitian residents have been taken out of Key West since July 27, when protections for Haitians ended even though conditions in their native country have not improved and the nation remains on the U.S. government’s “Do Not Travel” list, along with places like Iran, Syria and North Korea.
Enforcement affects businesses
Local restaurants have been experiencing staffing shortages due to the removal of immigrant workers and the ending of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haitians.
“You’ll get zero argument from me that anyone with a criminal record has to go,” Key West restaurant owner Bill Lay told the Keys Weekly last week. “But the truth is, the majority of the people they’re taking are not bad people. We need to protect ourselves, but we also need to show some humanity. We’re a nation of immigrants.”
Lay has been lobbying lawmakers in Tallahassee and Washington, D.C. with the support of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, asking for an amended system to deal with the estimated 20 million undocumented immigrants who are living and working in the U.S., many in the restaurant, hospitality and health care industries.
“I have more than 30 staff members in my kitchens who are in jeopardy,” he said. “All have work authorizations and were cleared to work by the E-verify system. But that means nothing now. Soon, we’ll start hearing about restaurants having to close for one or two days a week, or they’ll stop serving lunch. But the first domino to fall will be reduced hours for restaurants.”
See the Sept. 3 Key West Weekly for specifics about Bill Lay’s lobbying efforts.
