Representative Byron Donalds (R-FL) discussed a recent Fort Myers City Council vote to not cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which he predicted would be reversed in a recent appearance on Fox News's Brian Kilmeade Show.
For additional context, three Fort Myers City Council members voted against ICE training for the city's Police Department, which sparked backlash from Governor Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and Attorney General James Uthmeier. Rep. Donalds even called for the three to be removed from the Council.
Hence Rep. Donalds posted to X (formerly Twitter), "On Monday, the Fort Myers City Council voted to prevent @ICEgov from working with @fortmyerspolice. This was flagrant disregard for the rule of law & throughout the week, our SWFL community let them know this will not be tolerated. Tonight, the City Council MUST REVERSE COURSE."
On Monday, the Fort Myers City Council voted to prevent @ICEgov from working with @fortmyerspolice.
This was flagrant disregard for the rule of law & throughout the week, our SWFL community let them know this will not be tolerated.
Tonight, the City Council MUST REVERSE COURSE. pic.twitter.com/k8a824cjta
— Byron Donalds (@ByronDonalds) March 21, 2025
"What was happening in Florida is that every local government is going through a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between their local police departments and with ICE, and so the City Council of Fort Myers, for whatever reason, you have three members of that council who decided they did not want to get into an MOU with ICE," the Florida Congressman said within the clip.
Despite the anti-ICE vote, "they are being reminded right now by the citizenry of Lee County and frankly all of Southwest Florida and myself; this is my Congressional District, that they do not get to choose if they are going to comply with ICE."
"Federal law is what it is, and the Governor signed into law with the state legislature the rules upon which local law enforcement would coordinate with ICE and execute the 287(g) program. Once that happened, it was not optional for local government to decide if they wanted to engage or not. It is now the duty of them to execute state law in order to coordinate with federal law," Donalds concluded, adding, "There is probably going to be a special meeting in the city of Fort Myers... and my anticipation is that the city is going to see the error of their ways and they are going to reverse course."
