Key West city commissioners have voted to void an agreement between the police department and federal government on illegal immigration enforcement — prompting a threat of punishment from the DeSantis administration.

In a 6-1 vote Tuesday, the City Commission said the agreement, which allows police officers to stop, question and detain undocumented immigrants, was not enforceable because it was approved by the police chief and not the city manager by way of elected officials.

“I try not to make decisions with my heart because it can get me into trouble,” said Commissioner Donald Lee, the city’s former police chief, who voted to sever the so-called 287(g) agreement, named after a section in the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996.

“Tonight, I am going to make a decision from my heart, and I hope it doesn’t get the city in trouble,” Lee said.

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier indicated in a statement released on X Tuesday morning that his office is prepared to take action against the Southernmost City.

“The City of Key West will be hearing from my office very soon,” Uthmeier wrote.

In Florida, law enforcement departments that operate county jails must enter partnerships with the federal government so their officers can carry out limited immigration agent functions.

State statutes do not explicitly require local and municipal police departments to join these agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as the 287(g) program. But DeSantis and his administration have put pressure on local officials, saying that their departments must join to comply with the state’s sanctuary city laws, which prohibit local governments from limiting collaboration with ICE.

In correspondence, Uthmeier’s office has threatened local officials in Orlando and Fort Myers with removal from office if their local governments don’t agree to have their police departments join 287(g) agreements.

DeSantis Tuesday told reporters at the opening of the new “Alligator Alcatraz” immigration detention facility in the Everglades that Key West officials could face suspension as a result of not upholding the agreement.

“I think the attorney general has weighed in on that, and I’ll let him do the analysis and sent them whatever warnings need to be sent. But, the reality is, you have a responsibility for full participation,” DeSantis said. “And, you can virtue signal and try to make political statements, but the reality is, local governments have to abide by Florida law.

More than a dozen residents and business owners attended the meeting to protest the agreement, saying undocumented immigrants who live and work in the city are living in fear already because of ICE agents who have been operating in the Keys since the Trump administration began its mass deportation program earlier this year.

Bobi Lore, owner of the Island House Key West Gay Hotel & Resort on Fleming Street, said “masked, unnamed, unnumbered and heavily armed” ICE agents are spreading “terrorism” in the city, and he said local police officers should not be helping them.

“Everybody is afraid. It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about immigrants. This is not about immigrants anymore. This is about a deep fear and intimidation practice that is being spread throughout the entire country,” Lore said. “But for Key West, a place we consider paradise, a place we consider one of the best places on this earth to live, work and be, it’s just completely unacceptable.”

Police Chief Sean Brandenburg singed the agreement with ICE in March, he said, because he was told by colleagues in other municipalities that if he didn’t, he faced removal of office by the governor.

“It has been made abundantly clear that entering into the 287(g) is the law, and I am trying to follow the law,” Brandenburg told commissioners.

Commissioner Samuel Kaufman said he did not know the city had entered into the agreement until last month when a group of business owners told him that their employees have been detained by ICE who have legal status to be in the country, including asylum seekers and those with permanent legal residency, or green card holders.

They then told him that Key West police entered into the 287(g) agreement.

“No way, I didn’t believe it,” Kaufman said, adding later in the meeting, “Why was I informed by constituents three months after that agreement was put in place? That’s just improper.”

The meeting held Monday was to terminate the agreement, but Kaufman, who is a trial and litigation attorney, changed the resolution, arguing there was nothing to terminate because, in his view, it was not signed by the city manager under the delegation of the city council.

“The agreement is void,” he said. “So we don’t have to terminate the agreement.”

The resolution to end the agreement was approved by Commissioner Monica Haskell, who introduced it, Kaufman, Lee and Commissioners Mary Lou Hoover and Aaron Castillo. Commissioner Lissette Cuervo Carey voted against it.

Carey told the Herald having a mother and grandmother who immigrated from Cuba to Key West in the 1950s, she is a supporter of legal immigration, but, “I believe in upholding and respecting the laws of the State of Florida. As a public servant, I am committed to making decisions that balance compassion, legal integrity, and the best interests of our city.”

Carey said she heard from constituents who were concerned about defying the state.

“Having done extensive research on this issue — and after reviewing how similar decisions have affected cities like Fort Myers — I recognized the potential consequences, including the risk of losing critical funding and other repercussions that could significantly impact our city. Based on this understanding, I felt it was important to vote the way I did,” she said.

Chris McNulty, executive director of the Queer Keys Community Center, said several of his immigrant friends wanted to speak at the meeting, but were afraid doing so would put them at risk of detention from ICE. And while he said more Key West immigrants speaking out would make a powerful statement, he has been advising them to keep a low profile.

“I love my community, and I love my immigrant friends, and I am pained that they are afraid, and I am actually afraid for my immigrant friends who are not afraid,” McNulty said.

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(Miami Herald immigration reporter Syra Ortiz Blanes contributed to this report.)

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