(PENSACOLA) --- Clearly, all Sunshine State residents have reason to fear, with every Florida county sheriff working with ICE to crack down on immigration here.
For the last two Pensacola council meetings, resident after resident rises to the podium, promising to come back. I am one of them. While I do not speak at the podium, as I must remain as objective as possible as a reporter, I do, in fact, agree that this recent news gives all Floridians reason to fear.
NOTUS reports just four hours ago that our very own Governor Ron DeSantis "has almost 350 local and state agencies working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to implement the Trump administration’s immigration agenda, the most of any state."
Leave it to Florida to make another infamous mark for itself. There is no reason to doubt the fear; violence will not be local, since Pensacola is not special. Escambia County is just another in the state that will abide by the federal rules handed down.
OpGov.ai reached out to Sheriff Chip Simmons and posed the three questions below. I have faith that not only will our local leader respond, but he will do so with some comfort that we will not end up on the national news for scaring our children to death.
1. Based on these two reports, the first a month ago and the second last week, which collectively garnered nearly 4K hits from the last two Pensacola City Council meetings regarding FLOCK, why does this recent news heighten local fear of privacy rights within a large, diverse population?
2. How can any immigrant, no matter what nationality, feel safe here in Escambia County with the ICE raids taking over the country?
3. Anything else you would like to say regarding the recent news that will help ease citizen fear, here I will report as noted.
Along with the questions to Sheriff Simmons, I offer the below reports written by my OpGov.ai peers which reveal how very real local ICE fears are becoming.
Dublin ICE Concerns Continue to Loom
Union City High School Students Speak Out Against ICE
Gilbert Police Department Issues ICE Statement
Students In San Ramon Protest ICE In Walkout
Portland City Residents Confront Council On Many Oversights
I am sure this report will bring a rise from those who are very much for spreading fear across the country, and that's ok. But remember, fear will only fuel more hate, which will inevitably cause death.
Please let's stop.
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