LAKE WORTH BEACH — Upset at recent raids, advocates for immigrants and their U.S.-born families want the city to cut ties with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office if it keeps working with federal immigration law enforcement.
The Lake Worth Beach-based nonprofit Guatemalan-Maya Center and its allies are demanding the city's elected leaders reject a 10-year contract proposal increasing payments to the sheriff's office being pitched at the City Commission meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 18.
One commissioner opposing the groups' plea said rejecting the contract will not stop the agency from collaborating with federal authorities.
PBSO contract with Lake Worth up for vote on Aug. 18
The renewal of the sheriff's contract comes amid the Trump administration's efforts to enforce laws against immigrants who are
in the U.S. illegally. Upon returning to office in January 2025, Trump promised the largest mass deportation in U.S. history, targeting violent criminals.
Several enforcement efforts have taken place in the Lake Worth Beach area, home to many recent immigrants from Central and South America.
The contract will give PBSO $657,000 more than the city did the prior year for a total of more than $15.8 million for 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2027. The agency has been the city's police force since the city disbanded its police department in 2008.
The additional money would pay for five rangers to patrol the city's public parks, the proposal says. Among their listed duties, such as disposing hypodermic needles and finding lost items, is collaboration with law-enforcement agencies such as U.S. Border Patrol.
The PBSO contract "is incredibly harmful," Renata Bozzetto of the Miami-based Florida Immigrant Coalition said at a news conference the immigration groups hosted in front of City Hall on Thursday, Aug. 13.
"And yet, commissioners are proposing an agreement that not only expands its term to 10 years, solidifying the partnership with PBSO, but also has no guardrails to protect the constituents who have been so directly and so cruelly impacted by the partnership and collaboration between PBSO and ICE."
City Commissioner Anthony Segrich, however, said that even if the immigration groups' demands were met, "Rejecting PBSO does not repeal 287(g)."
Section 287(g) of the federal Immigration and Nationality Act deputizes local police to work with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. PBSO played a role in a countywide federal immigration sweep in July that arrested 309 people, including the owner of El Quetzal bakery in Lake Worth Beach, Jacob Zapeta-Castro.
Rejecting the PBSO contract extension "does not repeal federal immigration law. It does not eliminate ICE. It does not eliminate PBSO's obligations under Florida law," Segrich wrote in an email.
"What it does is potentially jeopardize the City's relationship with the agency responsible for providing our police services. So I think we need to keep the issues separate."
None of the groups involved in the news conference detailed what they want edited, removed or added to the PBSO-Lake Worth Beach contract proposal.
Deported translator's daughter says immigrants are living in fear
A recent federal immigration enforcement effort left U.S.-born city resident Jessica Perez with her parents far from her, in their native Guatemala. She spoke at the news conference. She said she was not told the details of the upcoming PBSO contract proposal.
"It's really hard because I'm only 18 and they've missed so much, like Christmas, Thanksgiving, and my big moment, my graduation," Perez said, tearing up as she spoke. "Not only that, even though I have no parents, I'm still scared for my aunties and uncles. I'm scared for them going out, even though some of them have work permits or residency."
Perez's mother, Olga Perez, was forced to go back to her native Guatemala in July. She was undocumented, with no criminal record. Perez, who worked as a translator for government agencies and nonprofits across Florida, arrived to the U.S. in 1997 at age 18, filing for asylum after fleeing her home country's civil war and genocide on Mayans such as herself.
Lake Worth Beach City Commissioners will discuss and vote on the PBSO contract at a public meeting 6 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall. It will also be broadcast live on the city's YouTube channel.
Along with the Guatemalan-Maya Center and the Florida Immigrant Coalition, the news conference and demands were organized by the Palm Beach County Indivisibles Immigration Coalition, Lake Worth For All and Community Justice Project.
Email news tips and article ideas to Chris Persaud at cpersaud@pbpost.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Immigrant groups urge Lake Worth to reject PBSO contract over ICE ties
