ICE action sparks tension in Jacksonville

Federal immigration officers have spread across Jacksonville in the past week, raising concerns among some residents that the government is overstepping the just powers it derives from the consent of the governed.

Tension arose on several fronts: The National Baptist Convention, meeting in Jacksonville, assailed the activities of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; a Jacksonville city official was suspended for an immigration-related post on social media; anti-ICE demonstrations cited the Declaration of Independence during a Downtown rally; and a local woman was accused of punching a state trooper and federal agents.

Jacksonville Today requested confirmation Thursday from federal immigration officials on whether they were increasing operations in Jacksonville, but they had not responded by evening.

National Baptist Convention leaders, during their mid-winter gathering in Jacksonville this week, compared ICE to a notorious terror organization.

The group’s president, Boise Kimber, says both the Ku Klux Klan and ICE officials obscure “their facial identity of covering their face when they go into the different cities and states around this country.”

The National Baptist Convention has nearly 7.5 million members at 31,000 historically Black churches across the country. It was founded in 1895 to present a unified voice among Black people around higher education, mission work and social justice. More than 3,000 members gathered Downtown this week. 

Kimber spoke a week after ICE officials shot and killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis.

Federal officials have proclaimed Good a domestic terrorist. Good’s family and on-scene video of her shooting call that characterization into question.

Hispanic outreach coordinator on leave

Jacksonville’s Hispanic community has consistently grown over the last two decades, to an estimated 115,000 people, making up about 12% of the population.

Mayor Donna Deegan’s administration sought to connect with the growing group when it hired Yanira Cardona to serve as its Hispanic outreach coordinator in early 2024. A Q&A published by Visit Jacksonville, the city’s official marketing organization, says Cardona is a native of Puerto Rico and moved to Duval County in 2004.

Cardona was placed on administrative leave Wednesday after city officials were made aware of a video she posted to social media in which she talks about the recent ICE activity and provides advice on how to navigate interactions with immigration enforcement.

In a news conference Thursday, Deegan clarified that Cardona’s leave was not a result of the content of the video, but that she violated the administration’s policy by not getting prior authorization for the video, which she shot inside her City Hall office during business hours.

“Nothing that she shared said anything about anyone who is here illegally. It was simply giving the community information that was freely available, and also, giving information about their legal rights. Get representation. Make sure you have a plan. She said a dozen times, if you are stopped, comply,” Deegan said.

“So it wasn’t the content of what she said that I took issue with. The reason that she was put on administrative leave is because we have a policy in this city. We’ve got a mayor, who is the spokesperson for the city. And we have people who follow policy that if you are going to create any sort of social media content, if you are going to make any sort of commentary, especially in this office, that would be construed as coming from the mayor, that has to come through me or through our communications office. Period,” she said. “And that is a concept that some people in this office have struggled with, and she has struggled with, unfortunately, repeatedly.”

Phil Perry, the city’s chief communications officer, told Jacksonville Today officials found out about the video through request from a member of the news media.  

Cardona posted the 15-minute video to her personal Instagram account, although the account’s bio does indicate she is “@coj Hispanic Outreach Coordinator.”  

In the video, Cardona speaks in both English and Spanish, advising that immigration enforcement officers have been witnessed stopping vehicles that look like they are from lawn care, air conditioning and construction companies and asking individuals for paperwork.

Cardona also gave locations of the immigration enforcement actions as Emerson (street), Atlantic and Beach boulevards, and on the highway.

Deegan said Cardona was repeating enforcement locations that were being widely reported online, but she said Cardona never asked her for clearance to post that information.

“Personally, I would not,” Deegan said. “I don’t have any issues with the people who are advocates in this community doing that particular thing, any more than I have a problem with some driver saying, ‘Hey, there’s a police officer running a speed trap over here.’ If they want to share that information, it’s entirely up to them. I don’t think that is something that this office needs to be involved in.”

Cardona also recommended people who have questions or need assistance to send her a direct message and to give someone they trust power of attorney over their children or businesses.

“These are difficult times … I know everyone wants to fight,” Cardona says in the video. “Unfortunately, this isn’t the time to fight. If you see someone getting pulled over, if you get pulled over, as much as we want to huff and puff, please comply. … If you have lawyers, please have your plan in place with your lawyers, please.” 

Deegan told news reporters at City Hall that her administration has consulted the city’s Office of General Counsel, which determined there was nothing illegal about the video.

Administration officials sent Cardona a letter Wednesday informing her of the workplace investigation and said she is to have no contact with city employees during work hours while on leave.

The city is also relying on its social media policy for a portion of its investigation.  

Deegan said Cardona has not been fired, and the mayor appeared to leave the door open to allowing her to return to her job.

“She is extraordinarily passionate about what she does. And she is very good at what she does. We love her. She’s fantastic, but she’s going to have to decide if this is something she can do,” Deegan said. “Many people come into the political space from different places, some from the activist community, some from corporate America, some from different places, but at the end of the day, everybody’s got to be rowing in the same direction. You have to be okay with the message.”

“Hopefully, she will decide that, that she can, she can live by those rules, because I would hate to lose her, honestly,” Deegan said.

Cardona’s primary role in the administration is outreach with the Hispanic community to connect them with economic development resources to help grow their businesses.

Deegan noted that she has no control over immigration enforcement in Jacksonville, and has not been briefed about the current enforcement levels in the city. She said that is the purview of Sheriff T.K. Waters.

”I have not heard a thing about any sort of increase in presence. They have been here a long time. There’s been a years-long partnership between the sheriff’s office and ICE. So this is not something new,” Deegan said. 

There have been no reports of violence in Jacksonville resulting from ICE operations, the mayor said.

“I know the sheriff is committed to a constitutional way of dealing with people, and I would expect that to be the same with any ICE agents coming into this city,” Deegan said.

The mayor said Thursday’s news conference was partly to dispel what she sees as misinformation being spread about Cardona’s administrative leave. Deegan said she wanted to avoid giving “grist to the political mill, that the same old hyperpartisan actors are only too happy to grab onto and try to make a big deal out of.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis referred to the situation with the city employee during a news conference Thursday at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville.

“These guys that are out there, they’ve been treated very horribly throughout the county and they really have a target on their back,” DeSantis said. “And I know you had that one woman in the city of Jacksonville government putting out information. Look, that’s not the way we roll here in the state of Florida. … We’re going to respect the law enforcement, respect the rule of law.” 

Other Republican government and political figures also weighed in.

Florida State Attorney James Uthmeier shared news coverage of Cardona’s administrative leave on X and commented, “Great, this is illegal and needs to be seriously addressed!” 

Deegan’s predecessor, former Mayor Lenny Curry, said on X: “This is a pattern of behavior. Enough is enough. @DonnaDeegan @MayorDeegan should call for her resignation. @ICEgov @DHSgov. …

“Every Jax resident wants to know does Mayor agree or disagree with the position of her employee on directing people how to illegally evade law-enforcement? And Does the Mayor support or oppose the work of law-enforcement on illegal immigration?” 

Deegan said, right now, immigrant communities are scared.

“We are a city of immigrants. We probably have more immigrants than most cities in the country. And a lot of them are frightened right now,” Deegan said. “They’re having a very difficult time. They’re seeing what’s happening around the country. They’ve seen American citizens sometimes being detained and arrested. They’re seeing violence. They’re worried. They’re scared.”

Local woman arrested 

Uthmeier’s posts didn’t end with Cardona. Thursday morning on X, Florida’s attorney general also posted a photo of a 40-year-old Jacksonville woman being held by two ICE agents at a shopping center on Beach Boulevard.

The post, which appears to contain a freeze-frame from a state trooper’s dashboard camera, identified the woman by name.

“This is Jennifer Cruz of Jacksonville. Jennifer disagrees with immigration enforcement and decided to commit a few felonies by getting out of her car and punching a Trooper in the face,” Uthmeir wrote. “But unlike Minnesota, we don’t put up with this nonsense. Not today, Jennifer.”

Cruz faces 14 charges including resisting an officer with violence, battery on an officer and one count of assault, according to Duval County jail files. She bailed out of jail on Wednesday, records show.

The Florida Highway Patrol arrest report, released late Thursday, says a trooper stopped Cruz’s Ram pickup on Beach Boulevard after seeing her “holding a cellular phone and recording,” then tailgating a marked patrol car “in a manner that interfered with her ability to safely operate the vehicle.”

Cruz was pulled over in the Mi Pueblo Market lot, and a check found her license had been suspended, the report said. But she drove away “in an attempt to flee,” then was boxed in by police cars, the report said.

Told to get out of her truck, she did, but refused to give up her keys.

“Cruz then stated she was ready to fight, making a threat toward law enforcement,” the report said. “When Trooper First Class Jessica Manganaro attempted to retrieve the vehicle keys, Cruz struck her in the face with a closed fist causing injury to her nose and fingers, committing battery on a law enforcement officer.”

The Highway Patrol arrest report said Cruz continued resisting arrest by refusing to comply with commands, then tried to kick another trooper. When officers tried to get her into the back of a police vehicle, she kicked a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.

A Cruz family member declined to comment when contacted Thursday afternoon.

During the news conference at Mayo Clinic, DeSantis was asked about Cruz’s arrest.

“This is not Minneapolis,” DeSantis said, referring to recent clashes that ICE has had with protesters. “That is not going to end well for you in Florida. You have a right to go out there and criticize government policy. You can go out and protest within a respected zone. But the idea that you are going to assault one of our troopers is unacceptable, and you are going to face consequences as a result of that.”

Faith and community leaders respond

Earlier this week, Carl Johnson, president of the Florida General Baptist Convention, told reporters he has requested a meeting with DeSantis. That has yet to happen.

He says political leaders in the state are not living the Christian ideals they espouse.

“When you are guided by righteousness, you would not be … punitive in your actions, inflicting pain, pain, pain without being corrected and being checked by people who are of upstanding heart,” Johnson said. “They say, listen to reasonable voices. So, the answer is, emphatically no. The policies are not of God, the way they’re being carried out.”

Westside resident Kris Kiernan may not be a member of the National Baptist Convention, but she is a believer in the New Testament ideal of feeding the hungry and clothing the naked and welcoming their neighbors.

Kiernan is among the handful of people in Jacksonville who have created mutual aid networks to help Jaxsons caught in the crosshairs of immigration enforcement, or prevent that from happening.

Some community members are collecting diapers, toiletries and more for local families who’ve primary breadwinners have been recently arrested.

In Keirnan’s case, she says she is part of a growing group of mothers and working-class people who are walking with parents and children as they approach their school campuses.

“We are doing a Black Panther-style chaperone system that may or may not include camouflage,” Kiernan says. “We all show up for one person. We want to prove we are bigger than they (ICE officials) think we are.”