POLITICS: FLORIDA: Polk County Sheriff’s Deputies Conduct Raid ResultIng in 33 ICE Holds, 188 Arrests and 1,221 Traffic Stops – USSA News

And my reaction to this article below by Gary White who is almost always biased to the left is it is about time. Anyone who thinks Polk County is not loaded with illegal aliens is living in a dream world.

Too bad Rep Canady didn’t have courage to respond and cudos to Ed Shoemaker and what he had to say.

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Polk immigrants’ anxieties linger after law-enforcement operation

Gary White · Lakeland Ledger · USA TODAY NETWORK

Willow Oak Mobile Home Park seemed almost deserted on a recent balmy afternoon.

Children’s bicycles in various hues leaned against trailers, but no kids were riding or playing on the park’s asphalt and gravel lanes. A cluster of chairs placed under an oak tree all sat empty.

Soccer balls lay unkicked in the dirt. The dominant sound was the rattling of window-unit air conditioners.

“People, just, they’re not out as much,” said Eulalia, 14, a resident who left her family’s trailer to talk to a reporter. “A lot of people used to be out here playing soccer, right here. They would always be outside, just in the neighborhood. Now, there’s barely any people because they’re scared of immigration.”

Eulalia spoke the afternoon of Sept. 24, the day after the Polk County Sheriff ’s Office and Florida Highway Patrol concluded a two-day traffic initiative that included a conspicuous presence around Willow Oak, an unincorporated area west of Mulberry. The enclave is predominantly populated by immigrants, such as Eulalia and her family.

The Sheriff ’s Office said the initiative focused on traffic offenses. Spokesperson Scott Wilder said traffic stops for speeding and other violations also yielded checks of each person in the vehicle — not just the driver — for arrest warrants and immigration status.

Anyone identified as being unlawfully in the country was detained and either booked in the Polk County Jail on state charges or held for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

On the morning of Sept. 22, a Ledger reporter observed several traffic stops and apparent detainments of pedestrians, most conducted in either unmarked vehicles or labeled Florida Highway Patrol cruisers. Some of the officers clad in black vests labeled “SHERIFF” wore face coverings.

The countywide initiative, carried out between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on the two days, yielded 1,221 traffic stops, Wilder said. Those produced 1,295 traffic citations and 188 arrests.

Among those arrested, 33 had ICE holds placed on them, Wilder said. PCSO deputies did not make stops based on the perceived ethnicity of drivers, he said.

A spokesperson for the Florida Highway Patrol did not respond to a pair of emails.

Asked for the impetus of the operation, Wilder said that traffic complaints ranked first among citizens’ service requests. The agency responded to 8,266 traffic crashes in 2024, including 80 fatal wrecks with 84 victims.

“We coordinated with the Florida Highway Patrol and received logistical support from ICE & Homeland Security in instances where we needed rapid inquiries on those who we came into contact with and determined were foreign born,” Wilder said.

Residents of Willow Oak Mobile Home Park near Mulberry, most of them immigrants from Guatemala or Haiti, occupy decades-old trailers. GARY WHITE/THE LEDGER

The initiative covered the entire county, he said.

“We did have some deputies in the area of Willow Oak because of the recent fatality there,” Wilder said.

That was a reference to a Sept. 7 incident in which a man died after being run over in a driveway at Willow Oak Mobile Home Park and then carried inside a trailer. The Sheriff ’s Office arrested six men it said were in the country illegally, charging one man, Ponciano Cinto-Ramirez, with multiple counts, including leaving the scene of a crash resulting in death.

The mobile home park, a small collection of single-wide trailers just off State Road 60, is home mostly to immigrants from Guatemala and Haiti, said a teenage resident who declined to give her name. Most of the men work in agriculture or construction jobs.

The enclave provides decidedly spartan living quarters. The trailers all appeared to be at least four decades old, and many bore dents and discolorations. Some residents offset hose blemishes with strings of colored lights. A Guatemalan flag was hanging inside one window.

Several chickens pecked in the dirt around the trailers, seemingly unafraid of the many wandering cats. Some residents keep chickens in coops, and others cultivate banana and papaya trees. A tiny playground sits at the center of the park, wedged between a dumpster and a cramped laundry room.

Of the few residents seen outside trailers, almost all told a reporter they did not speak English. Knocks at doors went mostly unanswered.

A reporter noticed a young boy wearing a “Willow Oak School” T-shirt walking toward his family’s trailer and approached. The boy summoned his older sister, Eulalia, a ninth-grader.

Residents of the park remained frightened and uneasy after the twoday traffic initiative, Eulalia said. Phone calls quickly spread word of the heavy law-enforcement presence, and residents shared photos and videos on social media with warnings to the undocumented not to leave their homes.

Adults were staying home from work to avoid being on the roads, she said, and some children avoided going to school, even though they were American citizens, like her. Eulalia said her two younger siblings had missed school the two previous days.

“They’re afraid of immigration,” Eulalia said of adults in the area. “And if they want to go to the store, they send their kids to get the stuff for them.”

Unconfirmed rumors swirled that ICE agents were positioning themselves outside Walmart and a nearby Family Dollar store. “I’ve heard that they’re in undercover, like, construction cars, making it seem like they’re trying to get as many people as they can,” Eulalia said, speaking for herself and sometimes translating for her mother, who stood beside her.

Tensions rose further as photos circulated of three PCSO deputies walking into the park on Sept. 22. Contrary to rumor, Wilder said the deputies were not knocking on doors to question residents’ immigration status.

The three deputies were checking on a homeless camp in a wooded area beside the mobile home park to follow up on a previous investigation, he said. No arrests resulted.

While Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd supports Trump’s deportation push, he has said that his agency will not enter neighborhoods in search of undocumented residents.

Eulalia’s family, which hails from Guatemala, has lived in the area for 10 years, she said, occupying a spot in the park for about five. Eight people squeeze into the trailer — her family of five and another family of three.

Though informed that the operation had ended, Eulalia said it would probably take at least until the end of the week before residents of the park relaxed and resumed their normal activities. She said she had never before noticed such an intensive law-enforcement operation in the area.

The only resident who responded to a door knock, an 18-year-old girl, said her family had long lived in the area but had only moved into the park a week earlier. She said that seven family members occupied the single-wide trailer.

The girl, a high school senior, said she learned that two men — one a co-worker of her father’s — had been detained for ICE after a traffic stop earlier in the week.

“They feel worried because now they can’t go out,” the girl said of her family’s response.

Rumors had spread that ICE agents were loudly knocking on doors in an adjacent neighborhood, she said. There had been talk that the operation would continue for one or two weeks.

Residents were already on edge after the Sept. 7 incident, she said, which brought a contingent of Polk Sheriff ’s deputies and drones into the area.

“Some of them are scared to go back to work,” she said of the park’s adults. “They’ve been staying home the past two days.”

Eulalia said that “migrant services” have been delivering food to residents to help offset their lost wages. It was not clear if she meant an official agency or local volunteers.

Nancy Futch, a longtime immigrant advocate from Lakeland, said that her church, Beacon Hill Fellowship, and other local churches operate migrant funds. Other advocates have been delivering food, baby formula and diapers, she said.

“The very human side of this story is people fear going to work,” Futch said in a text message. “Bills cannot be paid. Won’t go to store as authorities stationed outside of Dollar Stores, Walmart, etc. No formula, no food, no diapers. Children don’t want to go to school for fear parents will be gone when they come home. Families are living in terror.”

Two candidates for the Florida Legislature criticized what they perceived as a crackdown on immigrants. Carlos Gamez, a Democrat challenging Rep. Jennifer Canady in District 50, responded to the news reports of masked officers stopping drivers.

“This is unacceptable behavior as it has a chilling effect on the entire Latino community,” Gamez said in a statement on social media. “Being the son of immigrants from Latin America, I know the effect it has had on families such as mine. While we can all agree that apprehending criminal immigrants is an important goal of the government, stating that the means justifying the ends is a slippery slope in a constitutional republic that we hold dear.”

Octavio Hernandez, a teacher, said he has seen the effects on students when a parent faces deportation. He lamented the more aggressive immigration enforcement that has come since President Donald Trump began his second term in January.

“They’ve always lived in fear, the people that are documented,” said Hernandez, who is running for the Florida House in District 51, a seat being vacated by Rep. Josie Tomkow, R-Polk City, who is term-limited. “But now, even people that are Hispanic might get nervous, people that have their residency.”

He added: “Now, we’re going to create a disdain between our Hispanic communities, our Haitian communities, and anyone of color, because of the Supreme Court that allows (law enforcement) freedom to discriminate against people of color, people that speak Spanish.”

Ed Shoemaker, Republican Party State Committeeman for Polk County, offered a contrasting reaction.

“I stand in full support of the traffic safety initiative launched by the Polk County Sheriff ’s Office and the Florida Highway Patrol — this proactive enforcement effort is both timely and necessary,” Shoemaker said by email. “Sheriff Grady Judd’s leadership-reflects a commitment to protecting families, commuters, and law enforcement officers alike.”

Shoemaker added: “This initiative is not about punishment; it’s about stewardship. It’s about valuing human life and reflect the same principles of accountability and care that we expect in our communities. I commend PCSO and FHP for taking bold action to restore safety and responsibility in our communities.”

Gary White can be reached at [email protected] or 863-8027518. Follow on X @garywhite13.