Florida, once again, feels like the center of the world when it comes to how inhumanely people can treat each other

Florida, once again, feels like the center of the world when it comes to how inhumanely people can treat each other. While last year’s legislative session was less-driven by culture wars over pronouns and library books, Republicans in the Sunshine State have reconnected with an old boogeyman as more pressing issues like insurance rates and cost-of-living increases continue to make most every Floridian’s life less bearable.

Of course, turning immigrants into bad people in the eyes of the electorate is nothing new. Nativism was a tried-and-true tactic weaponized by the Ku Klux Klan, which counted Catholics and Jews in its list of undesirables as the terrorist organization peaked in the 1920s. Sorry to all the red hat-wearing MAGA patriots out there, but you guys weren’t the first to use “America First” as a campaign slogan (the clowns parading in white hoods beat you to it).

And while the president’s shock-and-awe campaign to suck the air out of every news headline leaves the country’s head spinning daily, the level of cruelty associated with this zeitgeist’s current approach to immigration is still jaw-dropping. Across the Bay area, we see it in our very backyards.

In Tampa two months ago, Gov. Ron DeSantis spent an afternoon bragging about how Florida Highway Patrol helped arrest 30 people on behalf of the feds. Troopers, along with other local cops, now have leeway to do that thanks to new legislation that allows local and state law enforcement agencies to enter into what are known as 287 (g) agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to execute immigration enforcement inside Florida.

Last month, Ana Lam, a Tampa woman with connections to the local immigrant community, told WMNF public affairs program The Skinny that her people are terrorized right now.

“To be Hispanic, to be undocumented right now, there is no peace. There is anxiety and fear of what is going on,” Lam added. “Even though they say they are after criminals, that is not true—we’re seeing families and being torn apart.”

The president’s supporters see the arrests of immigrants as part of a return to common sense.

“If you look at what necessitates a country you have to have clear, definable and defendable borders,” Dr. Melissa Beaudoin, Assistant Professor at Liberty University, said on the same program, in reference to undocumented immigrants in the U.S. “Are they here for malicious intents? Are they here to have a better life? You know what? We just don’t know. While the United States should be welcoming immigrants, they need to be legal, and we need to know that they’re here to have a better life.”

But Thomas Kennedy, Policy Analyst & Consultant with the Florida Immigrant Coalition points out that many of those being picked up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are being met by agents as they are in courtrooms going to their immigration appointments—trying to do things the right way.

Kennedy noted that it’s extremely complicated for people to adjust their status and find a path to citizenship, adding that family petitions can take up to 20-30 years. “We haven’t had a federal immigration package with a pathway to citizenship since 1986 since Ronald Reagan was president,” he said.

Kennedy’s comments came weeks ahead of the development of Florida’s new so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” facility in the Everglades that was supposed to go online July 2 and house between 1,000-5,000 prisoners. Critics of the sitec have said the site, which could cost hundreds of millions of dollars to operate, have said it should be called “Alligator Auschwitz,” not to minimize the Nazi death camp, but point out how many will end up there based on their ethnicity. Almost none will be convicted of any crime either, according to The Nation.

“At least the poor souls who wound up at Alcatraz, California’s infamous island prison, got due process. They were deterred from escaping by freezing cold waters and the rumor of sharks; these prisoners will be in mosquito-infested swampland surrounded by alligators and pythons,” columnist Joan Walsh added.

While some Republicans are already capitalizing on the prison by selling branded merchandise, former Florida State Sen. Jeff Brandes likened the project to a Japanese internment camp.

“It’s kind of like a Mexican internment camp, a South American internment camp, versus an Alcatraz situation,” he said, adding that the public should know exactly who is going to run the prison. “If it’s a state facility, legislators can walk in any day and night, and you’ll have plenty of visibility there. Is it a federal facility, or is it a state facility that is leased to the feds? That’s an important distinction.”

And still, ordinary people are pushing back.

Hundreds lined Tamiami Trail protesting the new facility last week.

Months before that, within a couple of weeks of the inauguration, protesters started to gather in resistance to Trump’s second term. At the same time, migrant communities took to the streets in their neighborhoods to say that they are “American by birth. Mexican by blood,” and remind anyone who’d glance over that, “Mexicans ain’t going anywhere.”

Locally, activists have seen and rallied against the deportation of Venezuelans, a Cuban mother in Tampa separated from her infant, and another mother in Pinellas who didn’t get to pick her kids up from daycare (p. 18). They’ve started to watch for ICE activity, too.

None of this, however, is stopping ICE from taking action as Trump and his White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller—who’s been dubbed as a white nationalist by congresspeople and think tanks alike—from starting to carry out what they hope is the largest mass deportation in U.S. history.

After visiting Florida last Tuesday to see “Alligator Alcatraz,” Trump said he wants more states to build immigrant detention centers. Florida’s already on it, apparently, thanks to a similar center set to open in North Florida.

And migrants need help beyond waving signs.

A spokesperson for the volunteer-driven Pinellas hub of Florida Immigrant Coalition told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay said that some of what migrants who are in touch with their organization want is for people to come to their protests, too. Yes, allies are organizing protests, and some of the large groups may have migrant leaders, but the community itself is on the street and could use some outside presence.

“Having non immigrants there, not just going to 5051 protests, but going to stuff that the community themselves are actually putting together—and making an effort to say ‘Hey, we’re going to come into your space. We’re not just asking you to come into ours,’” they added. “That is a big thing.”

And if someone can’t do that big thing, there are small actions out there for the taking, too.

“Another one that’s honestly really, really simple is just going out of your way to support immigrant businesses,” the spokesperson added. “Let’s say I wanted to go get tacos. Maybe, instead of going to Chipotle, go to the actual immigrant-run business.”

In a better world, all the little things will go a long way to making America good again. If the effort succeeds remains to be seen.

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This article appears in Jun 26 – Jul 2, 2025.