Miami activist groups blast mayor over ICE agreement

Despite campaigning on a promise to side with immigrants and bring an end to Miami’s immigration enforcement agreement with federal authorities, newly elected Democratic Mayor Eileen Higgins hasn’t made any visible effort to fulfill that promise, according to Florida Immigrant Coalition.

In an effort to encourage Higgins to take the action she campaigned on, the group (along with Florida Student Power) have started a text-blast campaign directed at about 18,000 Miami residents, Florida Immigrant Coalition policy consultant Thomas Kennedy tells New Times. The highly controversial agreement, known as 287(g), offers federal immigration enforcement training and authority to municipal police officers.

Florida Immigrant Coalition sent the first message to about 8,000 Miami voters in District 2 earlier this month.

“You can’t spell Eileen without L-I-E!” reads the text (attached below). “Miami Mayor Eileen Higgins promised to stop Miami police from collaborating with ICE (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement). Instead, Miami is the No. 1 CITY FOR IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT ENCOUNTERS in the state, according to a Florida database. A BROKEN HIGGINS PROMISE. Tell Eileen Higgins to STOP THE DEPORTATION of our families and neighbors by ending Miami’s 287(g) police-ICE collaboration agreement.”

The text ends with a call to action asking residents to contact Higgins’ office.

A second blast, this one from Florida Student Power, joined the cause days later with a text sent to 10,000 voters in District 2, telling residents, “Higgins campaigned heavily on restoring trust and protecting Miami’s immigrant communities. But less than six months later, Miami now leads Florida in immigration enforcement under the city’s 287(g) agreement with ICE. Residents deserve an explanation for why her ironclad campaign promises were broken and changed the moment she got elected. WHY, EILEEN?”

Higgins’ office didn’t respond to New Times‘ request for comment.

Data the texts refer to comes from the State Board of Immigration Enforcement, which found that officers with the Miami Police Department have had more immigration encounters than any other city police department. in Florida. Miami’s data is comparable, even higher than in some cases, to entire counties. According to the state’s data collected since August 2025, Miami Police officers have encountered 451 undocumented immigrants. The next closest city police forces were Clermont (just west of Orlando) with 162 encounters and Panama City Beach with 153.

While Higgins wasn’t on the commission last summer when officials signed the 287(g) agreement, she now has the power to bring the matter back up for discussion as mayor, Kennedy tells New Times.

“The city should never have entered into that agreement … There’s no reason in the city of Miami that our police department should be in the job of federal immigration enforcement,” Higgins previously told WLRN.

Kennedy thinks it’s an “issue of priorities, and it isn’t a priority for her,” he said. “I think it’s a priority for a lot of people in our community but not for her.

“I think city of Miami fucked up when they signed it in the first place.”