Orange County corrections staff set to get pay raises shortly after entering ICE agreement

Correctional officers for the Orange County Jail are slated to receive a 17 percent pay raise later this month, under a new deal negotiated by the workers’ union.

The deal, approved by union members through a ratification vote earlier this month, is slated for a final vote of approval by the board of county commissioners Tuesday — the same day the board is scheduled for a work session to discuss the county’s controversial agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a federal agency directed by the Trump administration to carry out a mass deportation effort.

According to board meeting documents, the county “has faced challenges” in recruiting and retaining correctional officers in its jail system, the fourth-largest in the state. Under the new deal, negotiated by the Jerry B. Haddock Lodge No. 86 of the Fraternal Order of Police, correctional officers would be paid a minimum hourly rate of $27.42, up from the current $23.44 hourly rate, effective April 25, with a max pay rate of about $40 an hour.

Correctional sergeants (who earn much more), corporals and classification officers — who determine a person’s custody level in the jail and calculate release dates — would similarly receive 17 percent pay hikes later this month, records show. Even more, all corrections employees represented by the union would receive another 5 percent pay raise this October, under a three-year agreement reached by county and the workers’ union.

“The Office of Management and Budget and Corrections will closely monitor the budget for the balance of the fiscal year and based upon timing for filling positions and overtime, will come back to the Board this summer to request a budget
amendment from reserves,” an internal county memo reads. “Until that time, Corrections will continuously look for operational efficiencies to minimize the budget impact.”

Felipe Sousa, executive director of the Hope Community Center, an immigrant and human rights organization, acknowledged that union negotiations generally begin months or even years in advance of reaching a final agreement, so it’s not clear the raises are directly linked to staff’s cooperation with ICE.

“We just want our [correctional] officers to get what they need in order for them to be well,” he told Orlando Weekly in a phone call. “But also we want to make sure that there is accountability and due process for people who are immigrants.”

A spokesperson for the county confirmed to Orlando Weekly that they began negotiations for a new union contract with the Lodge No. 86 on Jan. 28, 2025 — after Donald Trump returned to the White House.

According to federal Census data, roughly one-quarter of Orange County’s population is foreign-born — not undocumented, per se, just not born in the United States.

While Florida is a red state, dominated by Republican elected officials, Orange County trends more Democratic. Several Orange County commissioners, bringing up civil rights concerns, expressed reluctance to enter into a formal agreement with ICE last month. The agreement, known as a 287(g), like those approved by all 66 other Florida counties, authorizes county corrections officers to detain and transfer people who are accused by ICE of being in the country illegally.

Two County Commissioners, Kelly Semrad and Nicole Wilson, voted against approving the agreement, while County Mayor Jerry Demings argued that, under a new state immigration law, they had no choice. “Non-compliance will result in possible punitive action,” Demings warned. He added that lack of cooperation with the federal agency could also place the county at risk for losing federal funding — an outcome he said could have “catastrophic” impacts on the community.

“As the CEO of Orange County, I cannot allow that to happen,” Demings declared.

Before his tenure as mayor, Demings served as both Chief of the Orlando Police Department and as Orange County Sheriff.

Sousa, who’s running for a seat on the Florida House of Representatives, believes municipalities are “being bullied” into entering agreements with ICE. According to the Miami Herald, county jail operators are required by state law to enter 287(g) agreements, but cities are not.

Immigrant rights advocates in Central Florida blasted the city of Orlando’s decision to deputize its own police force through a separate agreement with ICE earlier this month.

“The sense of betrayal is real,” Kassanndra Santiago, executive director of development for Las Semillas, told Orlando Weekly. She and Sousa are both part of a 30-group coalition of immigrant and human rights groups called the Immigrants Are Welcome Here coalition.

The Orlando Sentinel reported in late March that ICE has approximately 10,000 deportation orders in Orange County for people they believe are unauthorized immigrants, and Demings estimated that number could climb. Florida, at large, is estimated to be home to about 800,000 undocumented immigrants, the third-largest undocumented population in the country.

Sousa spent 15 years as an undocumented person before gaining U.S. citizenship in 2021, after being brought to the U.S. from Brazil as a child. He emphasized that, under an administration that has ignored court orders, accountability and justice for immigrant communities are advocates’ primary concerns. “The courts keep telling the Trump administration not to deport people, and they still deport them,” he said. “There is no due process.”

President Donald Trump previously vowed to stage “the largest deportation operation in American history,” according to the Guardian. ICE agents have conducted raids throughout the country, and have begun arresting foreign-born students and academics on visas and green cards. In some cases, the administration has explicitly targeted those who have been vocal in their opposition to Israel’s brutal and deadly war in Gaza.

According to Al Jazeera News, the Trump administration has revoked nearly 1,500 student visas. U.S. Secretary of State (and former U.S. Senator from Florida) Marco Rubio declared last month, “We are not going to be importing activists into the United States.”

But it’s not just students, immigrants with temporary protection status, or undocumented people who are getting caught up in ICE enforcement.

Just this week, a Florida state trooper arrested 20-year-old Juan Carlos Lopez-Gomez, a U.S. citizen, during a traffic stop for allegedly entering the country as an “unauthorized alien.” Lopez-Gomez later told the Florida Phoenix that he showed his Social Security card and ID to the arresting trooper, although there is no mention of his Social Security card in his arrest report.

Protesters in Leon County rallied outside the jail where the young man was being detained, and after more than 24 hours, the jail released Lopez-Gomez, who wept in his mother’s arms upon their reunion.

“What we need is for all of our local officials to be taking action based on facts, not based on fear,” said Sousa. When they do make decisions driven by fear, he added, “They need to understand that they are becoming complicit with the mass deportation machine that is here to destroy our communities and destroy our constitution.

“So are they on the right side of history or not?”

Subscribe to Orlando Weekly newsletters.

Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Bluesky | Or sign up for our RSS Feed

This article appears in Apr 23-29, 2025.