A South Florida city is facing pressure to rethink a law-enforcement contract that could cost taxpayers nearly $16 million a year, as immigration advocates warn that cooperation between local deputies and federal immigration authorities is fueling fear among families.
Immigrant-rights groups gathered outside Lake Worth Beach City Hall on Thursday, Aug. 13, urging commissioners to reject or substantially change a proposed 10-year extension of the city’s contract with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
The city commission is scheduled to discuss the proposed extension on Aug. 18, according to WLRN.
Lake Worth Beach does not operate its own traditional municipal police department. Instead, it contracts with PBSO for around-the-clock law enforcement, from command staff to crossing guards.
The annual contract could reach nearly $16 million, while additional services would be charged separately at hourly rates of $142 for a deputy and $183 for a sergeant, WLRN reported. The city would also provide deputies with a dedicated local district office.
But what might otherwise look like a routine debate over police spending has become entangled with one of Florida’s most contentious issues: immigration enforcement.
Among those speaking Thursday was 18-year-old Jessica Perez, whose parents have both been deported.
“I lost my mom,” Perez told reporters.
Her mother, Olga Perez, was a longtime Lake Worth Beach resident and Mayan community leader and interpreter. Her father was also deported, according to WLRN. Perez said her parents are now having to rebuild their lives in Guatemala.
Importantly, the reporting does not establish that PBSO was responsible for detaining Perez’s parents. Her story was raised by advocates as part of their broader argument about the effects of stepped-up immigration enforcement in the community.
Why a police contract became an immigration fight
At the center of the dispute is PBSO’s participation in the federal 287(g) program, which allows participating local law-enforcement personnel to perform certain immigration-enforcement functions under agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
WLRN reports that all 67 Florida county sheriff’s offices have entered into 287(g) cooperation agreements as the state has increased its role in federal immigration enforcement.
Gov. Ron DeSantis has strongly defended those partnerships. He said in June that Florida accounts for more than 40% of state and local immigration arrests nationwide and has emphasized the state’s support for the Trump administration’s enforcement and deportation efforts.
Opponents in Lake Worth Beach argue the arrangement can make immigrant residents less willing to interact with police, including when they are victims of or witnesses to crimes.
Former Lake Worth Beach Commissioner Kimberly Stokes told WLRN that the city needs a public-safety approach that makes everyone who lives there feel protected. She urged commissioners not to approve the contract in its current form.
Current Commissioner Christopher McVoy has also questioned the proposal, arguing that taxpayer money should be spent “wisely to best keep our city safe.”
McVoy has pointed to research that he says raises questions about whether partnerships between local police and federal immigration authorities actually improve public safety.
The debate comes as Lake Worth Beach has already become a focal point for immigration-enforcement tensions.
In July, residents protested after federal immigration agents and Florida state troopers surrounded a local bakery while attempting to arrest its owner, according to WLRN.
Then, this week, another emotionally charged case spread through the community.
An emotional video showed five children saying goodbye to their parents, Maria Leiva Perez and Abraham Domingo, after they were detained during a U.S. Border Patrol stop in Lake Worth Beach.
That detention involved Border Patrol, not PBSO.
According to CBS12, the couple’s oldest daughter, a U.S. citizen, had turned 18 the previous day and was left responsible for four younger siblings, ages 16, 14, 11 and 3.
The Guatemalan-Maya Center accused Border Patrol of racial profiling in the stop. CBS12 said it requested an explanation from Border Patrol and a response to the allegation.
CBS12 also reported additional context about the parents’ immigration and court histories. Sources familiar with immigration records told the station that Leiva Perez had a final removal order and Domingo did not have legal immigration status or a pending asylum application or visa. The station also reported previous arrests involving Domingo.
The family’s case arrived during a broader enforcement surge in Palm Beach County. State officials said a five-day immigration operation in July resulted in 309 arrests, CBS12 reported.
Internet reaction shows a sharply divided community debate
Online reaction to immigration enforcement around Lake Worth Beach has been emotional — and divided.
A discussion in the local r/palmbeach community on Reddit centered on the separate Border Patrol detention involving the five children and their parents. It was not specifically a discussion of the PBSO contract, but it provides a window into how residents and internet users are reacting to the enforcement issue hanging over the contract debate.
“This is sad for the kids. What do they do?” one user asked.
Another commenter took a very different position, responding that the children should go wherever their parents go.
Other users pushed back, questioning why U.S.-citizen children should effectively be forced to leave the country because of their parents’ immigration status.
The comments illustrate how quickly the issue divides people between those focused on immigration-law enforcement and those focused on the consequences for children and mixed-status families. They are individual online comments and should not be treated as representative of Palm Beach County residents as a whole.
The contract controversy itself has also begun appearing on Reddit.
In the immigration-focused r/EyesOnIce community, one poster described the coming Aug. 18 decision as “a choice about power” and argued that Lake Worth Beach should not remain a “cog in the deportation machine.” The post reflects the position of one user in an activist-oriented community rather than broad public opinion.
For Lake Worth Beach commissioners, the immediate question is more concrete.
The city needs law-enforcement services, PBSO already provides them, and the proposed agreement carries a price tag approaching $16 million annually.
But opponents are asking commissioners to consider something beyond dollars and staffing: whether signing another decade-long agreement with an agency participating in federal immigration enforcement matches what residents want from their local police service.
That argument will move inside City Hall when commissioners take up the proposed PBSO contract on Aug. 18.
