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A Doral council member will push a December debate on scrapping the 287(g) deal with ICE
Maureen Porras said on Wednesday she will seek a public discussion at the City Council after the city attorney declined to put the item on the November 18 agenda, according to CiberCuba, citing Univision.
Doral council member Maureen Porras said she is considering bringing a public discussion to the City Council in December to review or rescind the 287(g) agreement the city holds with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), after months of pressure from residents and business owners. Porras had filed a memorandum to get the item onto the November 18 session, but the city attorney, Lorenzo Cobiella, declined to recommend it for the agenda.
According to CiberCuba, Cobiella argued that even a public proposal to leave the agreement could be read as an "anticipatory repudiation" of Doral's obligations and expose the city and its council members to consequences under Florida state law. "I believe our residents deserve the opportunity to have this matter discussed publicly with my colleagues, the City Attorney and the community", Porras replied in an official statement.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has warned that any municipality that cancels or refuses federal immigration cooperation could be labeled a "sanctuary city", bringing civil and criminal penalties and the removal of officials. Civil rights groups dispute that reading: Sam Lester, of the ACLU of Florida, said Doral "is free to walk away from this agreement" and that the governor has no authority to remove municipal officials for doing so.
Cuban-American Mayor Christi Fraga, who admitted in September that she signed the agreement under pressure from Governor Ron DeSantis, maintains that Doral police have not taken part in any ICE raid and have not sent officers to the training tied to the deal. An official document acknowledges that to date no local officer has completed the required training.
In Doral, where about 70% of its 76,490 residents were born outside the United States and some 27,000 are of Venezuelan origin, the South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce estimated that business sales have fallen between 40% and 45% because of fear of immigration operations. Eleazar Guevara, owner of La Sabrosita Parrilla & Grill, told CBS Miami his restaurant went from about 150 people a day to no more than 10 customers. Pipo Burgers reported a 70% drop in sales, and the Venezuelan food business Al Pastel closed at the end of October.
On Monday, at an event at Miami's Freedom Tower, activists urged elected officials to reconsider cooperation with ICE and argued that the results of the November 3 elections amount to a public mandate to act. The November 18 council session will go ahead without the item on the formal agenda.
Sources: CiberCuba
Data updated: 2026-11-12T04:15:00.000Z