As thousands of people attended the Florida Strawberry Festival in Hillsborough County Saturday, they were greeted by about two dozen people demonstrating in support of immigrants, including those who pick the fruit.
The festival, which saw more than 600,000 attend the event last year with crowds expected to be even bigger this year, takes place annually in Plant City, renowned as the “winter strawberry capital of America.” And it comes just weeks after Florida Legislature enacted laws to help federal law enforcement agencies fulfill President Donald Trump’s executive orders for mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.
Plant City is a community also known for its immigrants who work in those strawberry fields every year — and demonstrators said they wanted the public to be aware that most of them are good people and not the criminals the Trump administration has targeted as first priority for removal from the country.
Sanchez is okay with Trump’s intention to arrest criminals who are undocumented, “but they’re deporting anyone and everyone,” she said. “If this administration was truthful — which they’re not – I don’t believe they’re looking for criminals. They’re looking for numbers so that they can look good. Criminals are not the target.”
About half of Americans (47%) say the administration is doing “about the right amount” on deportations, according to a Pew Research Center survey. However, almost as many (44%) say the administration is doing “too much.” A much smaller group (8%) says Trump is doing “too little.”
‘We don’t know what’s going to happen’
Vanessa (she did not want to disclose her last name) is a 32-year-old DACA recipient living in Sarasota and working as a paralegal and hoping to attend law school. She says the tenor of the times has her worried. Saturday’s demonstration was organized by the Plant City Democratic Party.
“My mom is an immigrant,” she said. “She’s scared. She doesn’t know what to do. I’m scared for myself, too. I have kids, so anything can happen, and we don’t know what’s going to happen. “
While Republicans in both Florida and Washington, D.C., have been pushing aggressive policies, one GOP member of Congress is taking a different approach — and agrees that most of the undocumented are not criminals.
“It’s just not the right thing to do, the Christian thing to do, or the intelligent thing to do to be deporting people who do not have a criminal record and who have been here for more than five years,” South Florida U.S. Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar told Punchbowl News this week.
She was critical of the Biden administration, during which a large number of undocumented immigrants crossed the border seeking asylum, but says, “All of these people that came in under Biden and those who have been here for many years with no criminal record, those are the ones I am out to defend. They came in illegally, true, but someone gave them a job and profited from their labor.”
That was the sentiment of the protesters.
“I’ve heard people with clean records sent to detention camps,” said a man who wanted to be identified only by the first name of Chris, who traveled from Port Charlotte.
“I understand if they’re going after criminals, but they’re not,” added Lita, a woman who lives in Bradenton. “They’re going after everybody, and they’re just saying that they’re criminals. There have been people with no record who have already been sent to Guantánamo Bay. And thankfully they’ve been sent to their [home] countries already so they’re not in that situation, but they’re going after not just criminals, and that’s the bad point.”
The Trump administration originally said that everyone sent to Guantánamo was a hardened criminal and that many were members of Tren de Aragua, a gang that President Trump recently designated a foreign terrorist organization.
But the Department of Homeland Security said last week that of the 178 Venezuelan immigrants sent to Guantánamo this month, 51 had no criminal record while 126 did have criminal records and 80 belonged to Tren de Aragua, according to NBC News.
Economically necessary
Robert People, 45, attending the demonstration, said he intends to run as a Democratic candidate in Florida’s 15th Congressional District in 2026. That’s the seat now held by Republican Laurel Lee.
“Despite what the message is out there, they’re paying taxes just as much if not more than we are. And we need to treat them better, especially to help them gain asylum. They’re trying to do the right things and it’s our system that’s slowing them down.”
People was critical of Florida’s new immigration enforcement law. Like other Democrats, he argued that, although illegal immigration is a serious problem, it’s not the top priority for most Floridians.
“We have plenty of issues here. The rising costs of homeowners insurance as a result of climate change due to seeing more hurricanes in the area. We have a lot of issues in the state of Florida that are way more vital at the moment than for Ron DeSantis to be going after what the president wants.”
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.
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This article appears in Feb 27 – Mar 5, 2025.