A Miami-Dade County Commission meeting on Thursday morning turned chaotic after a woman was dragged out of the chambers after objecting to the board’s refusal to vote on an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and county jails.
According to CBS News Miami’s partners at the Miami Herald, Miami-Dade County Sheriff’s deputies dragged out a woman who allegedly ignored an officer who told her not to speak after Commission Chair Anthony Rodriguez explained he would bar future public comments on the issue if any person chose to speak at the meeting.
The woman, whom the Herald identified the woman as 36-year-old Camila Ramos, was seen on video colliding with a sign as multiple deputies dragged her out of the chambers and was allegedly pushed to the floor of the lobby before being brought to a commission office.
The incident prompted other small scuffles with law enforcement during the confrontation outside the chambers at the Stephen P. Clark Center in Downtown Miami.
According to the Herald, Thursday’s incident marked the “most chaotic” moment at the commission chambers since the board agreed in 2017, during the first weeks of the first Trump administration, to extend jail time for local inmates sought by ICE for deportation.
What led up to the chaotic chambers
Earlier this year, Miami-Dade County approved a formal cooperation with ICE for the county jail system, which are now mandated by Florida state law. The item on the agenda was a modification of that agreement that included reimbursement provisions for local inmates held at county jails when sought for deportation. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava recommended approval, the Herald reported.
Commissioner Oliver Gilbert asked to defer the vote indefinitely because Cava had already signed the agreement before the scheduled vote. Rodriguez agreed and told the audience they could still speak on the item, but if it came up for another vote, there would not be another opportunity for anyone to speak in the future.
According to the Herald, Ramos was already near the dais and waiting for her chance to speak. That’s when she asked for Rodriguez to clarify his instructions when a plain-clothes deputy told her to be quiet. Ramos objected and was forcibly removed from where she stood.
Audience members immediately objected to the situation, where multiple people were seen following Ramos and the deputies outside the chambers, which prompted orders for people to stand back as she was pushed to the ground by deputies.
The modification of a cooperation agreement that Florida law mandates for all jails brought warnings of ICE being able to “disappear” inmates whose names would otherwise be listed on a public website for loved ones to search. However, county officials denied that and said the disputed restrictions on public records in the new agreement already exist under federal, the Herald reported.
Cava’s administration told the Herald that the agreement on the agenda is required by Florida law.
“This is not something about which I have a choice,” Cava told the Herald. “This is the law… It doesn’t mean it is the wish of this body.”
