Tessa Petit of the Florida Immigrant Coalition denounces an immigration enforcement partnership with local police officers in Doral at a press conference on Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026.
Syra Ortiz Blanes
sortizblanes@miamiherald.com
Residents, community leaders and advocates doubled down Wednesday on demands that the city of Doral end its partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, saying it’s causing panic in the community and devastating local businesses.
“What our community is living through is shameful,” said Eliazar Guevara, a Doral resident and Venezuelan activist. “They have said that the police are not collaborating. What’s the problem with revoking this agreement if they don’t collaborate?”
Guevara held a yellow manila folder he said contained signatures from 170 residents calling on the city’s leadership to revoke the enforcement collaboration with the Trump administration.
The press conference was the latest development in growing tensions between advocates, residents and community leaders and the Doral City Council, which approved and signed an ICE partnership granting local cops some of the powers of immigration agents. Florida has over 350 such 287(g) agreements, making the Sunshine State one of the largest in the country under the program.
Officials say that no Doral cop has been trained under the program, meaning that they cannot carry out immigration arrests yet. But Doral business owners and residents report federal agents are carrying out immigration arrests, sparking fear among neighbors and crashing business activity in the city, home to one the largest Venezuelan communities in the country.
“We encourage residents to ask their representatives, their council members, their mayor to do their job, which is to represent them and not their own political agenda,” said Tessa Pettit, executive director of the Florida Immigrant Coalition. Other participants included former Congressman Joe Garcia and former Doral Councilmember Sandra Ruiz.
Mayor Christi Fraga responds to concerns about the 287(g) program’s impact on Doral on Oct. 7, 2026 Syra Ortiz Blanes sortizblanes@miamiherald.com
Doral Mayor Christi Fraga held an impromptu press conference on the third floor of City Hall, telling reporters that she had found common ground with advocates during a Monday meeting and acknowledging that immigration enforcement has gone “too far.”
“We don’t want to see good people be hurt,” said Fraga. “We want to protect our communities.”
Fraga said, as she has in recent weeks, that she is awaiting clarification from Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier on whether she can end the agreement without facing legal consequences. Uthmeier, acting under a mandate from Gov. Ron DeSantis pushing local governments to join the 287(g) program, has threatened officials across the state with removal from office if they vote against the partnership. He has accused them of violating Florida laws banning “sanctuary” policies that limit local cooperation with ICE.
Last year, the City of South Miami asked a judge to determine whether municipalities were obligated to join. During those legal proceedings, state lawyers stated that not every municipality is required to sign an agreement, as long as they do not oppose joining.
“The city does not and should not bow to pressures or mischaracterizations from Tallahassee that attempts to impose obligations beyond what the law itself requires,” said Jeanette Ynfante, a representative of the Southern Poverty Law Center, during the press conference outside city hall.
Former Congressman Joe Garcia denounces an immigration enforcement partnership with local police officers in Doral at a press conference on Oct. 7, 2026. Syra Ortiz Blanes sortizblanes@miamiherald.com
Fraga rebuffed comments from the advocates’ press conference that she was not ending the agreement out of “cowardice” because it could put her job at risk.
“I never wanted to join the agreement. We adopted after several cities had rejected and letters were sent to them by the Attorney General. We acted based on recommendation,” said Fraga. “It was very clear in any case that any City that would exit after entering would be seen as a sanctuary city or acting against the law.
Towards the end of the impromptu press conference, Guevara approached Fraga with the manila folder and explained that it contained the petition. “The community needs trust in its police,” Guevara told her.
“You can trust them,” she said.
Fraga thanked him for the document and said he needed to submit it officially to the clerk, rather than her directly.
Activist Thomas Kennedy and other advocates said their next step is to gather 25 sworn declarations from Doral residents to automatically introduce the 287(g) program as an item on the next city council meeting agenda, as allowed under the city’s charter.
This story was originally published October 7, 2026 at 4:30 PM.
el Nuevo Herald
Syra Ortiz Blanes covers immigration for the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald. Previously, she was the Puerto Rico and Spanish Caribbean reporter for the Heralds through Report for America.