SARASOTA, Fla. — The driver deputies say rammed his car into a motorcyclist might be on a fast track to deportation.
Sarasota County Sheriff Tom Knight announced Wednesday his detectives arrested Magdiel Medrano-Bonilla in connection with a road-rage incident caught on camera, which showed a driver veer into a motorcyclist, sending the biker off the road.
Knight said Bonilla tried to strip the car of all evidence, but it didn't work. Detectives found he's from El Salvador and that he entered the country illegally from Mexico, through Texas, in 2014.
Bonilla's charged with aggravated battery and more. But his fate in the U.S. will ultimately be determined by an immigration judge after he is processed by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officials.
"These are the people — why I entered that agreement with that ICE — that we don't want in Sarasota County," Knight said during a Wednesday press conference announcing the arrest.
"This is an individual who can be located safely by ICE agents without them having to go into the streets to hunt him down."
But the partnership between our sheriff's offices and ICE is one that most people don't understand, or don't know exist.
It allows local police to hold an undocumented immigrant accused of committing a crime for up to 48 hours. Under the agreement with ICE, they become federal detainees.
In January, 17 counties signed on with the partnership, including all of Tampa Bay.
The counties include:
- Bay
- Brevard
- Charlotte
- Columbia
- Hernando
- Hillsborough
- Indian River
- Lee
- Manatee
- Monroe
- Pasco
- Pinellas
- Polk
- Santa Rosa
- Sarasota
- Suwannee
- Walton
But the partnership has its critics. On Monday, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri heard an earful from a crowd of about 70 people who expressed concerns the new policy will lead to all undocumented immigrants being targeted.
Gualtieri says their job is not to enforce immigration.
"The only time we're going to do anything is if somebody ends up in the jail and then there's an arrest warrant issued," Gualtieri said. "Their immigration status is between them and ICE, it's not between the sheriff's office and them."
Knight echoed those sentiments during his Wednesday press conference.
"If you don't commit a crime, you don't have anything to worry about," Knight said. "If you're here illegally and don't want to be exposed, you better not commit a crime."
However, Nanci Palacios, who is an immigration advocate for Faith in Florida, fears even a minor traffic violation could be enough to lead to an arrest.
"Most of the people who will end up in jail are not going to be criminals, are not going to be people who are killing people, or murdering people, or robbing people. They're going to be people who are just trying to live their lives — hard working people who sometimes get caught driving without a license," she said.
In response, Gualtieri reiterated that undocumented individuals should not live in fear of having their status called into question by his deputies, whether they're stopped for a traffic violation, are a victim of a crime, or report one — unless they commit a crime.
"This is not about, and I can’t say it strongly enough, this is not about people who are here illegally who are just going about their business," he said.
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