Tourist hotspot is forced into embarrassing backflip after voting to become sanctuary city

A tourist hotspot in Florida that voted last week to become a sanctuary city changed its mind after intense pressure from state-level elected officials.

During a Tuesday night city hall meeting, Key West commissioners voted to uphold an agreement it had with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to cooperate with the Trump administration’s mass deportation effort.

Those same commissioners chose in a 6-1 vote to void that same agreement last week. Now that it is back in force, local police officers can stop, question and detain illegal migrants.

Governor Ron DeSantis and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier threatened to remove Key West elected and unelected officials from their offices, the Miami Herald reported.

Three of the six commissioners who initially voted to void the agreement, changed their vote after that. Key West Mayor Danise Henriquez also voted to restore the agreement.

Key West is a serene island town that prides itself as an ultra-popular destination for cruises. 

The southernmost point of the continental United States, Key West is chiefly known for still having homes that were once lived in by Ernest Hemingway and former President Harry S Truman.

Complicating matters for Key West is the fact that the city of South Miami filed a lawsuit against the DeSantis administration seeking a judge’s opinion on whether municipalities are actually required to sign onto ICE enforcement agreements.

Key West commissioners voted Tuesday night to reverse an earlier decision to void an enforcement agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement

This means that local police in Key West will now be obligated to provide more material assistance to federal immigration officers looking to deport migrants (Pictured: Two federal officers arrest a female migrant in Miami)

That lawsuit, filed back in March, has not been adjudicated. That was the reason behind the Key West commissioners initially voting to void the agreement.

The about-face from local politicians after their jobs were threatened angered the dozens of people who packed City Hall on Tuesday.

Most of them wanted Key West to stick with the initial vote or wait until the judge rules on the South Miami lawsuit.

Lucy Hawk read a letter on behalf of 133 residents of Bahama Village, a neighborhood with a large Haitian migrant community, and pleaded with the commissioners to hold fast.

‘These people are very proud of what you did last week, and we hope you honor that,’ she said.

Local musicians Jillian Todd and Jesse Wagner sang the Woody Guthrie song, ‘Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)’, a protest song the folk singer wrote about a 1948 plane crash that killed almost 30 migrant farm workers on a deportation flight.

Ultimately pressure from the governor and the state attorney general was what won out though.

Uthmeier sent a letter to the city the morning after the first vote threatening expel the officials who approved scrapping the ICE deal.

Pressure from Governor Ron DeSantis and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier was the main thing that caused the about-face from Key West commissioners

Key West is typically a serene tourist destination, not the flashpoint for major political issues (Pictured: The intersection of Duval and Greene Streets, two lively thoroughfares in the city)

The threat worked on Commissioner Donald Lee, who told an incensed audience on Tuesday: ‘I’m voting with my head, and not my heart.’

Lee was a yes vote to dismantle the agreement last week and said at that time he was voting with his heart. He also said he hoped it wouldn’t get the city in trouble with the state.

Commissioner Lissette Cuervo Carey voted to last week to cooperate with ICE and voted the same on Tuesday.

Carey condemned the residents who stormed out of the meeting in frustration at the decision.

‘It appears that we are “one human family,”‘ she said, referencing the city’s motto, ‘Unless we have a difference of opinion.’

Commissioners Monica Haskell and Mary Lou Hoover voted to maintain the city’s opposition to the agreement.

Commissioner Samuel Kaufman, who supported ending the agreement last week, was out of town for the subsequent vote and criticized Mayor Henriquez for not giving him enough time to return.

The Florida state government is cracking down on uncooperative localities, with DeSantis arguing that police departments are not allowed to limit ICE collaboration under state law.

Key West Mayor Danise Henriquez said her initial vote to void the agreement was solely based on procedural grounds. She flipped on Tuesday and approved a new cooperation deal with ICE

Pictured: The Little White House in Key West, a presidential getaway for Harry S Truman while he was in office

Uthmeier’s office has also threatened to remove local officials in Orlando and Fort Myers if they don’t agree to work with ICE.

Key West Police Chief Sean Brandenburg said last week that he signed the agreement with ICE in March because he was told the governor would remove him from office if he didn’t comply.

He clarified during Tuesday’s meeting that his officers have never actively participated in ICE raid and won’t be doing so in the future.

Mayor Henriquez said her initial vote to void the agreement was solely based on procedural grounds. She argued it needed to be signed by the city manager, not the police chief.

Henriquez flipped because she thought a new agreement can be drafted that ‘could be considered and, if approved, properly executed by the City Manager in accordance with local legal requirements.’

‘Let me be clear: I have no intention of breaking state law or undermining lawful immigration enforcement. My sole aim is to do things the right way — transparently, legally, and in the best interest of the City of Key West,’ she said in a statement.