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Police chief defends ICE task-force MOU as residents, advocates demand answers
Summary
Coral Gables police chief said the department signed a memorandum of understanding with ICE to allow ‘best-effort’ cooperation and training; residents urged the commission to oppose the MOU and raised concerns about civil detainers and community trust.
Coral Gables Police Chief Hudak told the city commission on March 11 that he had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to allow selected officers to participate in a task force and receive federal training and reimbursement. The chief said signing the MOU was an operational necessity and did not turn local officers into ICE agents.
“This was an operational agreement that I signed,” Hudak said in a lengthy explanation to the commission and the public. “We are not ICE agents. We are not a jail facility. This agreement does nothing more than give us training and the ability for reimbursable funds from the federal government through the state.”
Hudak repeatedly emphasized limits on the department’s obligations under state law, saying agencies “shall use best efforts to support the enforcement of federal immigration law,” and that the agreement authorizes the department to designate only a few specially trained officers for immigration-related work. He told the commission the department will not perform “door to door” immigration sweeps or begin profiling; investigators with the special training would be used only as circumstances required.
The chief’s remarks came after a wave of public comments and emails pushing the commission to reject the MOU. Speakers at the meeting raised two central concerns: the scale and accuracy of ICE detainer requests in federal systems, and the chilling effect on immigrants’ willingness to report crimes or call police.
“Those 700,000 detainers...these are administrative detainers, not judicial warrants,” resident Juan Kuba said during public comment. “They’re riddled with mistakes and errors. ... You’re going to call the person in your police force that is allowed to investigate those detainers and hold them and turn them over to ICE. What will happen when hundreds of thousands of people lose temporary protections?”
Attorney and longtime resident Alana Greer urged the commission to oppose the agreement. “Our local officers should not be empowered, deputized as ICE agents,” she said. Greer said migrants have been detained after routine police contacts and that the city is not legally required to enter such MOUs.
Commission members said they appreciated Chief Hudak’s willingness to appear and explain his decision. Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson and others praised the department’s record of treating residents with dignity, said they supported victim protection language Hudak referenced, and asked for continuing public updates. The chief said the department will provide more details about which positions will receive training and how the MOU will be operationalized.
No formal commission vote was held; commissioners did not rescind or endorse the MOU at the March 11 meeting. Several members asked staff to provide follow-up briefings and to explore community safeguards, including policies that protect crime victims and witnesses from immigration enforcement when they report offenses.
