WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A few dozen people came to the Palm Beach County Courthouse on Friday to protest immigration enforcement policies across the country.
The protest’s location was purposeful, after more suspected undocumented migrants were arrested in Palm Beach County than anywhere else in Florida, according to data from the State Board of Immigration Enforcement over an eight-month period.
Although federal and state agencies faced criticism at the event, there was also significant opposition to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office (PBSO).
The data shows a majority of the 1,700 arrests, around 70%, came from Florida Highway Patrol (FHP). PBSO, according to the data, was responsible for 25% of those arrests. However, WPTV heard significantly more frustration about actions from the sheriff’s office, even though they are responsible for significantly fewer arrests.
“I’m frustrated with PBSO mainly because Florida Highway Patrol is open about what they’re doing,” said Mariana Blanco, director of operations for the Guatemalan Maya Center. “They’re [FHP] actively doing it. They’re being aggressive about. We know they are one and one with Border Patrol. But the frustration with PBSO is that they continue to share this message that they’re not enforcing immigration. That they’re not ICE. But in their practices we see them being the same or worse than ICE.”
According to the State Board of Immigration Enforcement, more suspected undocumented immigrants were “encountered” in Palm Beach County than anywhere else in the state over the eight-month period of state tracking. The database said only three other sheriff’s offices (Martin, Lee and St. Johns) arrested more suspected undocumented migrants on federal immigration charges than the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
According to federal court records, some of those arrests have originated with people getting arrested for driving in Palm Beach County without a driver's license.
Blanco said her organization, which organized the protest and Good Friday service where the journey of an undocumented migrant was compared to the stations of the cross depicting Jesus Christ’s last day on earth, is aware of a number of cases where they feel like undocumented migrants were wrongly targeted for either immigration charges or arrested while calling for help from emergency services.
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She said ultimately the event on Friday was to highlight the problem existing in Palm Beach County, which she believes is bigger because the local sheriff’s office is pushing even more immigration arrests to federal agencies not included in the state’s data.
“Our local law enforcement is taking action in a way that we’re not really seeing in other places,” Blanco said. “So that’s certainly what’s disappointing, primarily because Sheriff [Ric] Bradshaw has always spoken about being pro-immigrant and not targeting working-class families. And we don’t think that’s true."
A PBSO spokesperson declined to directly answer our questions, referring us to a provided video statement, which was made to look like a mock television interview on Facebook. In the video, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw (D) said his department won’t participate in immigration sweeps but would make arrests if they ran into undocumented migrants while conducting their job.
“Now if we come across somebody in a normal course of business like a traffic stop or domestic disturbance and we find out they're wanted and there is a hold on them, we’ll take them into custody,” he said. “But it’s not that we went looking for them.”
Bradshaw said the emphasis is on the “bad guys” like people involved in either gang activity or narcotics. However, Blanco said these statements are misleading and don’t reflect the reality her organization is seeing on the ground.
“I think there’s lack of transparency in what he’s saying and I think he knows how to work a microphone,” she said. “It’s heavily misleading. If I wasn’t on the ground I might be inclined to believe Sheriff Bradshaw, and I want to believe Sheriff Bradshaw. But his actions don’t match his word.”
