Adela Miranda holds a sign advocating for immigrants’ rights during a protest in front of the Gadsden County Courthouse on Feb. 24, 2025. She said she immigrated to the U.S. when she was 3 years old. (Photo by Jackie Llanos/Florida Phoenix)
QUINCY – Aracely Cruz-Miranda, a young mother who has called this town just west of Tallahassee home for 25 years, is organizing Latinos in her community through social media as state and local law enforcement shore up coordination with federal immigration enforcement agencies.
A constant trickle of rain in front of the Gadsden County Courthouse dampened the protesters’ signs and started to wash off their messages during the first demonstration on Monday. Still, spirits remained high, with people dancing to Mexican music and sharing pizza despite fear that many protesting said have consumed community members whose immigration status makes them subject to deportation.
In one hand, Cruz-Miranda held an umbrella big enough for three people, signs, a large American flag, and smaller flags to hand out to people. In the other, she held a slice of pizza. She joked — as a mother, she’s used to carrying her toddler while holding onto other things.
“I don’t want my daughter to grow up in a community that is going to discriminate her skin color,” she told the Florida Phoenix.
The demonstration on Monday was the first of many Cruz-Miranda, a Mexican-American born in Tallahassee, plans to organize biweekly.
Where does the small city fit in state plans for immigration enforcement?
Quincy is a city of nearly 8,000 residents less than a 20-minute drive from the border with Georgia. Just over 22% of the population identifies as Hispanic or Latino, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The Latino community in the area is tight-knit, Cruz-Miranda said, but the past few weeks have felt hopeless in light of the Republican leaders’ dash for Florida to lead immigration enforcement efforts.
Cruz-Miranda had another task on Monday. She spoke before the Gadsden County legislative delegation meeting to condemn state and local leaders’ lack of solidarity with Latinos in the area, shaking while reading the speech she’d written on her phone. Republican Sen. Corey Simon, Democratic Rep. Gallup Franklin, and former Congress member Al Lawson ran the meeting.
“My community recalls local authorities coming to us and asking for our vote,” she said during the meeting. “They promised us solidarity and support, but now where is your voice? Not a single webinar on knowing your rights, not a single message of unity, not a single word of support. The silence is unacceptable.”
As others in the audience clapped, Gallop said, “Thank you very much for sharing your comments. They’re much appreciated.” Simon looked down at the dais in front of him.
During the same meeting, the mayor of Gretna, a city of fewer than 1,400 residents neighboring Quincy, told the lawmakers that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was welcome to use a former elementary school building as a processing center for immigrants facing deportation. However, the city needs $1 million to improve the structure, which local law enforcement uses to train for school shootings, Mayor Gary Russ-Sills said.
This bill would impose harsher penalties for immigrants driving without a license
Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed agreements deputizing the Florida Highway Patrol, the Florida State Guard, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to interrogate people about their immigration status under the ICE’s “task force model” of the 287(g) program, which authorizes such cooperative arrangements.
The governor signed two laws on Feb. 13 distributing $250 million to local law enforcement working with federal officials and bringing harsher penalties for immigrants lacking legal status who commit misdemeanors, such as driving without a license.
Latinos in the county have shared accounts of police stops over air fresheners hanging on their rearview mirrors or claims a passenger wasn’t wearing a seatbelt leading to inquiries about people’s immigration status, according to the Tallahassee Democrat.
ICE and the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles last week touted on social media traffic stops leading to arrests of people living in Gadsden County without authorization.
Long-time Quincy Latinos reject crack down on immigration
Cruz-Miranda said she warned people at risk of deportation not to come to the protest. Those present said that although they were citizens or permanent residents, they felt the need to stand up for friends and family members afraid to leave their houses.
Nohe Sandoval, who moved from Acapulco, Mexico, to Quincy 25 years ago, said that although he’s a permanent resident, he fears being separated from his children.
“Residency is not as strong as being a citizen,” Sandoval said. “We want to become citizens as soon as we can but, at the same time, we have Mexican friends who came here and haven’t been able to get documents. We need immigration reform so we can all be fine. Not all of us are criminals, we are simply workers seeking better lives for our kids and ourselves.”
Maribel Rodriguez, another Mexican immigrant who’s been in Quincy for three decades, is thankful she became a citizen but opposes the recent laws DeSantis signed giving harsher penalties to people without legal status who commit crimes. She said a lot of American citizens born in the country don’t understand the complexities of the immigration process.
“I agree that people who commit crimes should be deported, but there are more good people than bad people. … An American who commits the same crime as a Hispanic person won’t be judged the same way for the simple fact that they’re undocumented. That is deplorable and sad,” she said.
Rodriguez said she worked harvesting tomatoes, in nurseries, and factories before becoming a citizen.
Note: Immigration attorneys plan to host a meeting for the community on March 2 at St. Thomas Catholic Church in Quincy.
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