Cleon Williams, affectionately known in the community as “Uncle Lou,” has been released from the Orange County Jail as of early Tuesday morning and is now in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Orange County commissioner Mike Scott delivered the news Tuesday morning during the board of county commissioners meeting after several residents, including activists with the local chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, expressed concern about Williams, 62, being held in the jail on behalf of ICE.
The Arroyo Law firm office, which is representing Williams in this case, confirmed to Orlando Weekly that Williams was released into ICE custody. However, their attorneys are not sure where Williams is currently being held or where ICE is taking him. A representative of the law firm who answered the phone said that they should know where Williams is being held by this afternoon, once he’s processed into a detention facility. They added they will be informing Williams’ family of his location as soon as they can confirm.
Williams is a well-known figure in Orlando’s punk and underground music community, as the owner of the music venue Uncle Lou’s Entertainment Hall. Williams is originally from Jamaica and moved to the U.S. in 1987. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, however, has accused Williams of having an expired work visa and defended Williams’ placement into custody last week by vaguely referring to past criminal offenses in a social media post, including mention of charges that had been dropped.
Williams was initially booked into the Orange County Jail on May 9 on a federal immigration hold. A few days later, however, a misdemeanor charge for illegally selling liquor without a license was added to Williams’ court records. Records show that two undercover officers for the Florida Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco allege that Williams sold them liquor at Uncle Lou’s Entertainment Hall on May 8, despite the business not holding a license to sell liquor. According to an affidavit submitted to the Clerk of Courts, the venue is only licensed to sell beer and wine.
Since Williams’ initial detention, Orlando’s local music and entertainment industry has rallied around Williams, organizing benefit shows at Austin’s Coffee, Redlight Redlight, Will’s Pub, My Sister’s House and Dirty Laundry to help cover operational costs of Uncle Lou’s Entertainment Hall — to ensure it can remain open — and to support his family while he is in custody.
“Uncle Lou is not just a name in a jail database,” said Caleb Pierre, a member of PSL speaking to Orange County commissioners during the public comment portion of their meeting Tuesday morning. “For years he opened his doors to local artists, touring bands, punks, workers, young people and anyone who needed a stage or place to belong. Now, Orange County is enabling ICE to keep him in the cage.”
During the county commissioners’ Tuesday meeting, activists urged county commissioners to “free Uncle Lou” and formally move forward with removing ICE from the county’s intergovernmental service agreement with the federal U.S. Marshall Service as county commissioners voted to do last month.
Under the current IGSA, yet to be formally modified by county leaders, ICE can detain people in the Orange County jail for up to 72 hours — even if they haven’t been accused of an actual crime — although advocates have for months warned that ICE has circumvented this deadline by shuffling people in and out of the jail or failing to pick them up ahead of the deadline without facing consequences from the county.
“If Orange County keeps holding people until ICE picks them up anyway, then the 72-hour clock was never a real safeguard,” said Pierre. “It was not a hard release deadline. It was a public relations shield.”
This is a developing story. We will update this story with information about where Williams (Uncle Lou) is being held as soon as Orlando Weekly gathers that information.
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