New immigration workplace enforcement reforms the Bush Administration announced last week could seriously hurt Florida’s agriculture industry. WGCU’s Mike Kiniry has more.

For the fourth time in 18-months, a group of Cuban nationals was found on Sanibel’s shore, and police and coast guard officials still don’t know who brought them here. WGCU’s Luis Hernandez has more.

Two Florida groups that support immigration reform say they will continue the fight even after the latest loss in Congress. WGCU’s Luis Hernandez reports.

Thursday’s news of the U-S Senate’s vote to kill the latest attempt at immigration reform caused ripples at the third annual Hispanic Summit, hosted by the Orlando Regional Chamber of Commerce. Judith Smelser was there and has this report.

More than 250 people took part in the Immigrants United for Freedom march in Immokalee Tuesday. Organizers say they sent letters to companies asking them to give workers the day off for the event, but they only received two or three positive responses. Last year an estimated 75 thousand people marched through Fort Myers in support of immigration reforms.

Fort Myers News Press opinion writer David Plazas, who is also the editor of Gazeta Tropicalle, says the paper is going to have a community conversation on Friday with an immigration lawyer. It’s the second such conversation. Plazas says certain themes, including the right to legalization, keep popping up.

“Every time I go into a restaurant, I certainly get approached by people who recognize me from Gazeta and ask when is this reform going to happen to us? When are we going to get some sort of amnesty, some say some sort of normalization.”

Plazas says that in 2000 there were about 42,000 Hispanics in Southwest Florida. Today there are nearly 80,000 – by all means not all illegal. But Plazas also says the area is seeing an exodus of immigrant workers due to lack of construction jobs and changing agricultural seasons.

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A Plant City based organization with an office in Immokalee put on Tuesday’s local protest for immigration reform. There were other protests across Florida and the nation.

About 250 attended the event in Immokalee where they carried signs saying “We are not terrorists, we are honest workers and taxpayers” and “Illegals are workers not delinquents”.

Fort Myers News Press editor of Gazeta Tropicalle David Plazas, says in preparing for the rally there was some trepidation by the organizers as to whether there was going to be a march at all.

“There was a division that some said we’re going to be exposing these marchers to a potential immigration raids and so certainly there is that tremendous fear based up on some raids over the past couple of months and also based upon just the lack of action from the federal government to create some process, whether it be a normalization or some sort of ability to get legalized.”

The News Press supports President Bush’s plan which would include an earned citizenship and guest worker program as well as some ways to require people to learn English and become involved in civic society.

Congress is set to recess soon so its members can campaign for re-election. It's clear there will be no consensus on legislation to crack down on illegal immigration.

The controversy has touched Philip Kellerman, President of Harvest of Hope Foundation in Gainesville, personally and professionally. His non-profit distributes emergency and educational financial aid to migrant farm workers and their families across the country, regardless of their legal status. Since 1997 it has distributed nearly 460,000 dollars in aid to migrant farm workers and families nationwide. It’s on the web at harvest of hope dot net. He has these thoughts.

A weeklong action dubbed “Operation Return to Sender” has resulted in the arrests of 163 illegal immigrants in Lee and Collier counties. The operation involved local sheriff’s departments and U-S Immigrations and Customs Enforcement or ICE. Operation “Return to sender” was aimed primarily at illegal immigrants who had ignored deportation orders and were on the lam. Twenty-six of the people detained had previously been convicted of violent crimes. Robert Weber of ICE was the special agent in charge.

“We have zero tolerance for these individuals who terrorize our community and we will use every law enforcement tool available to protect the law abiding citizens of our country”

The people arrested come from 11 different countries - primarily the Caribbean and Latin America. About sixty percent of the arrests happened in Collier County – with the rest in Lee. It’s estimated there are nearly a million illegal foreign nationals living in Florida.

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Sheriff’s deputies from Lee and Collier Counties joined forces last week with agents from U-S Immigration and Custom Enforcement to arrest illegal aliens. At a press conference Monday in Naples – they announced “Operation Return to Sender” netted 163 arrests. Twenty six had previously been convicted of violent crimes. And Collier Sheriff Don Hunter says illegals are having a big impact on crime in his county.

“We looked at our jail – we determined that on the average and in the main we’re running about 22 to 26 percent of our jail population is foreign nationals, illegally present, self admitted – illegally present in the united states.”

Furthermore Hunter says, out of 17 outstanding warrants for murder, at least 10 suspects are also foreign nationals. 84 of the people arrested were dubbed criminals by virtue of violating immigration laws. Operation “Return to Sender” was the largest number of arrests ever made by federal immigration authorities in Southwest Florida.

The 20 Cubans who came ashore on Marco Island Tuesday are now free. Federal authorities processed and released them all because they reached U-S soil before authorities could intercept them. Speaking today in Port Charlotte, Republican Congressman Mark Foley said this country needs to do a better job policing its borders.

“Not only are we going to have emphasize tightening our borders which we should do anyway. But we’re also going to have to provide a level of protection in the Caribbean and the Gulf Coast and the Atlantic based on what’s happening in Cuba today. Based on what can happen in Haiti on any day in order to enforce and enhance enforcement.”

A group of 20 Cuban refugees landed near Marco Island Tuesday morning. The group consisted of 16 men, 3 women – one of whom was pregnant – and a 1-year-old child. They told authorities they’d left Cuba 3 days ago, on Fidel Castro’s birthday. University of Central Florida Professor of Caribbean Studies – Luis Martinez-Fernandez – says Sunday was when the first pictures of Fidel Castro were released since his surgery two weeks ago.


“That was the day in which it became public…so that really strikes me. Perhaps they had been planning to do this for a long time and they were holding off just waiting to see what would transpire and whether Fidel Castro would return…”

A spokeswoman at the International Refugee Committee in Miami says there’s been no change in the pace of arrivals since Fidel Castro handed over power to his younger brother Raul. Authorities say the group was exhausted and dehydrated, but otherwise O.K. Half were taken to local hospitals, the others to a federal processing facility near Miami. Under the so-called wet-foot-dry-foot policy, it’s likely all 20 refugees will be allowed to stay in the U-S.


Two boats carrying 20 Cuban refugees landed in Collier County near the bridge leading to Marco Island Tuesday morning. 10 of them were taken directly to a federal processing facility near Miami…the others to local hospitals to be treated for dehydration. They told investigators they’d left Cuba Sunday…which also happened to be Fidel Castro’s birthday AND when Cuban officials released pictures of the communist leader for the first time since he handed over power to his brother Raul. Luis Martinez-Fernandez is Professor of Caribbean Studies at University of Central Florida…

“Perhaps…and this is just speculation…once they found out publicly that Castro was doing very well and his pictures, the pictures that were taken of him actually showed a healthy looking Castro, perhaps that triggered their decision to leave the island?”

Investigators are looking into whether the 2 boats the group arrived in were stolen. Both are registered in Florida. According to a spokeswoman for International Rescue Committee, there’s been no fluctuation in the number of Cubans arriving on Florida’s shores in recent weeks. Cuban refugees who make it to dry land in the U-S are generally allowed to stay under the so-called wet-foot-dry-foot

The city of Avon Park in central Florida is the latest community to weigh in on the illegal immigration debate. The city council is set to vote on a law that would fine landlords if they rent to undocumented workers. The measure would also make English Avon Park’s official language...and remove Spanish from all city documents, signs and automated phone messages. WGCU’s Valerie Alker has more.