Polk County residents respond to ICE presence with hotline and whistles

Polk County has not seen the turmoil surrounding immigration enforcement actions now swirling in Minnesota, but a few dozen local residents have something in common with Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

Good and Pretti, both fatally shot by officers in Minneapolis since Jan. 7, served as volunteer “legal observers” of immigration enforcement activities, according to news reports.

Pam Taylor is one of nearly 50 Polk County residents who occupy similar roles, she said. Taylor completed training through the ACLU to be a legal observer, a volunteer position that involves monitoring immigration enforcement actions and reporting those observations to the civil-rights group.

The fatal shootings of Good and Pretti have caused nervousness among legal observers in Polk County, Taylor acknowledged. But more people continue to sign up for training to become observers, she said.

“And I do think that a lot of people are nervous about the way our country’s going, as far as with ICE,” she said, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Taylor, a retired teacher, said she took some immigration-related classes with the ACLU last summer, and she asked whether anyone in Polk County was volunteering as a legal observer. Told no, she completed the training and took on the role in November.

As of Jan. 26, she said that Polk County had 47 trained observers who are available every day of the week.

“This last week, we got five more,” Taylor said. “So it’s growing. We need a lot of people, since Polk County is so spread out, and I think it’s important for people to know how to document what is happening, just in case they are in a position where they’re witnessing something.”

Taylor, who is active with the grassroots group Indivisible Polk, emphasized that legal observers do not interfere with the actions of any law-enforcement officers. They merely observe, document what they see and send reports to the ACLU, she said.

The observers also distribute warning whistles, as well as cards bearing an ACLU hotline number, she said.

“We think it’s most important to get the hotline out there, so people are using the hotline, because Florida is a little more rural than, like, in Chicago,” Taylor said. “So I don’t know how much the whistles will come in handy.”

‘Rapid response’ to ICE’s presence

Separately from Taylor and the ACLU-affiliated observers, a loose collective of Polk County residents is employing tactics used by protesters in Minneapolis and other large cities, including the use of whistles to warn of the presence of ICE officers.

Lakeland resident Taylor Aguilera, a longtime advocate for progressive causes, organized an event on Jan. 24 that produced about 400 packets, each containing a whistle, booklets outlining the code for using the whistles and a “know your rights” card, printed in English and Spanish. Photos Aguilera posted on social media show the booklet bearing the message, “Form A Crowd. Stay Loud.”

As seen in videos from Minneapolis, advocates concerned about immigration enforcement actions blow the whistles to alert others to the presence of officers. Aguilera said she learned of the resistance practice from her brother, who is attending college in Chicago, where students use the whistles as a “rapid-response system.”

“So, I thought that that was a brilliant system,” Aguilera said. “A lot of people take to social media to post ICE spottings — which should still happen, to spread awareness — but that’s not necessarily helpful for people who are in the immediate vicinity that might need to be alerted rapidly.”

Aguilera said that she and friends are distributing the packets in “vulnerable neighborhoods.” Her North Lakeland neighborhood includes many residents from Puerto Rico, she said, and some have become fearful of venturing into public.

“Even though they’re American citizens, they’re concerned about the racial profiling that police officers and ICE officers have been using against Latino people,” Aguilera said. “So even people who are here with legal status, it has been a chilling effect to them, and this is just no way for us to live.”

Enforcement actions in and near Polk County

Thomas Kennedy, an independent journalist and immigrant advocate, posted on social media on Jan. 14 that “credible sources” told him ICE had booked 200 hotel rooms in Kissimmee.

“There’s a lot of enforcement happening there and also around Lakeland,” Kennedy posted.

Two days later, U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, D-Kissimmee, posted on X, “There is increased ICE activity in Central Florida.”

Taylor, though, said that most of the apparent immigration enforcement activity she and others have observed locally has been carried out by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. Traffic stops are especially common along State Road 60 near Mulberry, which has a large population of immigrants, she said.

“What we have found is they like to pull over people on their way home from work, and so most of these are working people,” Taylor said. “And they look for cars that have a lot of Hispanic people in them, and they’ll pull those over and ask for everyone in there for documentation. And if they don’t have the correct documentation, they’ll take them in and hold them for ICE.”

When the driver or occupants ask why the vehicle was stopped, deputies reply that they need not give a reason, Taylor said.

“So, there’s no really reasoning,” she said. “So it’s racial profiling. The Supreme Court said that that is OK.”

Taylor referred to a September order from the U.S. Supreme Court overturning a lower court’s block on ICE and Border Patrol agents questioning people on the basis of their skin color or their speaking a language other than English.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd has long insisted that his deputies do not engage in racial profiling. Scott Wilder, a spokesperson for the agency, shared a copy of its policy, which says that “bias-based profiling shall not be used in traffic enforcement, field contacts, asset seizure, forfeiture efforts, or other law enforcement activities.”

Taylor said that she and other observers are mindful of Florida’s “Halo” law, which makes it a second-degree misdemeanor to knowingly approach within 25 feet of a first responder after receiving a verbal warning to stand back. Taylor said she has had no problems with Polk sheriff’s deputies, except for one who ordered her to get back in her car, even after she repeatedly said she would remain 25 feet away from him.

Lawyer says ICE violates Constitution

As large protests have occurred in Minneapolis, Polk County residents unhappy with ICE tactics held two relatively small gatherings in the past week, one Jan. 20 along South Florida Avenue in Lakeland and another Jan. 24 in front of Lakeside Village.

Jean Pierre Espinoza, an immigration lawyer based in Lakeland, said he noticed the latter protest while driving past. He expressed concern about recent reports of an internal memo from ICE leaders giving officers permission to enter homes without a judicial warrant.

Espinoza said he and other immigration lawyers consider that policy “a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment,” which forbids unreasonable searches and seizures and establishes rules for warrants based on probable cause.

“This is not only affecting now foreigners or unlawful immigrants in the country but also American citizens, as we are seeing in Minnesota,” Espinoza said.

The lawyer said he supports the enforcement of immigration laws, but he said ICE officers are also subject to the law. He decried the widespread practice of ICE officers concealing their faces with masks and not wearing or providing identities.

“The situation right now is quite concerning, having officers masked, unwilling to identify themselves,” he said. “So, how can we know if the person is a real officer or if he’s a criminal, if the person is unwilling to show credentials? So, an ICE officer unwilling to show an ID, trying to enter a house, is not only a violation of due process, but it’s also putting the officer in a situation where the owner of the house can shoot him back for trespassing or robbery.”

Espinoza, who receives regular updates through the American Immigration Lawyers Association, said he has seen reports of home entries without warrants in other states but not yet in Florida.