Dave Decker outside the Krome detention center in Miami, Florida on Nov. 22, 2025. Credit: Screengrab via sunrisemvmtgnv / Instagram
More than two dozen people were arrested outside a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Miami last Saturday afternoon—including Tampa photojournalist Dave Decker.
A rep for Sunrise Movement told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that Decker was among more than 30 people arrested outside the facility.
Decker, who was on assignment for three outlets—News2Share, Zuma Newswire, and CL—was covering a protest action by Sunshine Movement, which saw many of its members arrested after blocking the entrance to the facility on the southeastern edge of the Florida Everglades.
In a social media video, Miami-Dade police tell a videographer that the protesters are being arrested for “obstruction of justice.”
Records from Miami-Dade County say that Decker, 52, is charged with trespassing on property after warning and resisting an officer without violence to his person.
Decker was released on bond early Monday morning, and told CL he is working to recover his vehicle and gear from a Miami impound lot.
A social media video posted last Saturday by the Gainesville chapter of Sunrise Movement shows Decker photographing protesters on the side of the road as they hold signs that say “A better world is possible” and “Fuera ICE.”
This morning, Decker told CL that after that action, protesters moved to block the entrance to the Krome detention center. Miami-Dade Police then issued warnings. Florida Highway Patrol moved in soon after, Decker added, before issuing a final warning.
“A liaison for [Sunshine Movement], I heard them saying, ‘As long as you stand on the grass, you’re OK,’” Decker said, noting that there were concrete barriers acting like dividers. “It just felt normal to do the work of photojournalism and document from the sides, to document the detainments as they were happening.”
Decker, who was wearing press credentials around his neck, said he received no warning before an officer made eye contact with him and soon felt cuffs on his hand as he was photographing officers arresting protesters.
“I said, ‘Hey officer, I’m a member of the press.’ They said, ‘’You were warned, you’re getting arrested,” Decker added.
Decker said he had time to speak with a Florida Highway Patrol sergeant and explained that he was a working member of the press, and that what he heard officers saying was that they would arrest protesters if they did not stop blocking the road. He told the sergeant he was documenting and presented credentials for the National Press Photographers Association and his Part 107 drone pilot license.
“He said, ‘I don’t care about any of this. And he said, ‘You’re going to get arrested too.’ So he arrested me, and then he isolated me on another side of the road,” Decker said, adding that eventually convinced the officers to put his gear in his car.
“Eventually, a trooper, a detective, took my gear, put it in my car, and then they impounded it and they did an inventory of it.” he added.
In a text message, Decker added that officers had protesters and him on the ground, cuffed and zip tied with hands behind their backs for hours while they processed everyone outside of Krome where mosquitos started to swarm as night fell upon the parking lot.
Decker has kept a regular presence in South Florida this year, after the opening of the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” facility, which is mired in litigation. He photographed the ICE’s Krome detention center last May when activists protested accused overcrowding at the facility.
In prepared videos, Sunshine Movement members detailed being ready to be detained as they protested ICE, which has been arresting people across the country as part of President Trump’s immigration policy.
Sunshine Movement’s stated vision says: “We believe everyone should have access to clear air and water, full pantries of food, affordable housing, free public transportation, good and meaningful jobs, vibrant community centers, and lives filled with joy. We’re building a movement to make that happen.”
This reporter has set up a GoFundMe to help Decker’s family cover any costs associated with bail, legal fees, recovery of his vehicle and gear, along with time lost and the fallout of the arrest.
Decker, whose work has been recognized as some of the best in North America, has spent the last six years risking his physical and mental wellbeing to capture the world around him—including the actions of those protesting injustice across the U.S. He has been on the ground in South Florida since ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ went online, and has been regularly traveling to Chicago where he was recently shot with pepper balls while covering the city’s Broadview detention facility.
This is a developing post.
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This article appears in Nov. 20 – 26, 2025.
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