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Key West Considers Becoming A Sanctuary City

Nancy Klingener
/
WLRN
Key West has a non-judgmental ethos — and a long history of immigration and defiance of the federal government. Now the city commission could decide whether to become a "sanctuary city."";

As a new federal administration takes over in Washington D.C. — after an election in which immigration issues were prominent — one South Florida city may take a stand on the issue.

Key West City Commissioner Jimmy Weekley said he wants his hometown to become a sanctuary city, adopting an official policy toward undocumented immigrants similar to the military's old "don't ask, don't tell" policy on sexual orientation.

"If someone is pulled over for some minor traffic violation, the officer's not going to ask them what their immigration status is. If someone goes to the city to apply for a mobile vendor's license or anything like this, they're not going to ask them what their immigration status is," Weekley said.

He does not yet have a specific ordinance to propose to his fellow commissioners.

Weekley said that, after speaking to other business owners in town, he estimates that about 10 percent of the workforce on the island is made up of undocumented immigrants. Most of them entered the country legally, then stayed after their visas expired, he said.

The city does not now routinely check the immigration status of people it interacts with, "but I don't want them to start doing it," Weekley said. "It's a common-sense approach to an issue that I think we need to be involved with. We need to exercise our voice and let other people know that Key West is a tolerant and accepting place,  and we're going to protect our residents, regardless of whether they're citizens or undocumented residents of Key West."

Weekley says he does not oppose federal agencies like U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement  doing their jobs in Key West. He just doesn't want the city to do it for them.

And he's not concerned about Key West becoming a destination for undocumented immigrants looking to evade deportation.

"We're a very expensive community to live in," he said. "They would have a rough time finding places to live here — just like so many citizens do."

Nancy Klingener was WLRN's Florida Keys reporter until July 2022.
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