KEY WEST, Fla. — Key West journalist Zack Ford is calling for Key West Police Department Chief Sean Brandenburg to resign and State Attorney Dennis Ward to investigate the KWPD, alleging the chief and his officers failed to protect residents from abuses by federal immigration agents including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Ford filed a police report at KWPD headquarters on North Roosevelt Boulevard at approximately 4:30 p.m. on Thursday afternoon.
The writer, who has worked with Oxford American, outlined his allegations in a message expressing his intent to file a police report against Brandenburg and the entire Key West Police Department.
He is currently working on a book for the Vanderbilt University Press based on a six-essay series he crafted for Oxford American. It is currently under peer review.
“What had happened on Key West over the last fifteen months will be taught at the college level in textbook format,” he told Above the Fold on Thursday.
“As a journalist, over the last year, I have witnessed ICE and CBP racially profile, assault, batter, falsely arrest, intimidate, and harass residents Key West, including fully legal residents and American citizens, while the KWPD has looked on and allowed it to happen,” Ford wrote, referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol.
The KWPD and some of its officers are actively cooperating with federal agents using serviellance technologies including license plate readers to effect traffic stops on suspected illegal immigrants.
BACKGROUND
Key West Attorney Warns In-Person Immigration Hearings Put Haitian Clients at Risk
KEY WEST, Fla. — A Key West immigration attorney is warning that Haitian asylum-seekers and others are being forced to choose between tra…
Once ensnared in the fed’s system, the burden of proof is on the victims, who are often deported out of state to Alligator Alcatraz-type detention facilities in Louisiana, Texas and elsewhere — reminiscent of Japanese interns illegally held in work camps during WWII. Families, friends and even their immigration attorneys are often unable to locate the victims and their whereabouts or dispositions.
The prolific writer also alleged that residents, including teenagers and families, were detained and transported to detention facilities without due process. He said business owners had reported that local police profiled and detained employees to turn them over to CBP agents.
Ford said he previously filed a police report against a Border Patrol agent he identified as Bruno Cabral and published a petition seeking the agent’s arrest. According to Ford, the petition received more than 4,000 signatures, but police took no action.
BACKGROUND
Petition Calls For Arrest Of Border Patrol Agent Following Allegations Of Misconduct In Key West
Ed. Note: A Spanish version of this article appears at the bottom of the page. Please feel free to share with members of the community.
“It is my recommendation that Chief Brandenburg resign for failing to protect the community he swore under oath to protect,” Ford wrote. “This whole department should be investigated by the state attorney.”
The message does not establish whether Ford’s latest complaint has been formally filed or accepted. His allegations have not been independently verified for this report. No responses from the police department, federal agencies or Cabral were included in the materials provided.
Full Transcript of Ford’s Message
The following is reproduced verbatim from the police report filed by journalist Zack Ford.
With all due respect, I’d like to file a police report against Chief Sean Brandenburg and the entire Key West Police Department.
Let my report state—
My complaint is that the KWPD has neglected their sworn oaths as officers of the law, to uphold the Constitution of the United States of America.
Thus, the KWPD has failed to protect this community against the terrorization and brutality of ICE and Border Patrol.
Chief Brandenberg and the KWPD have chosen their paychecks and their job security over their sworn oaths to faithfully protect and defend the Constitution.
As a journalist, over the last year, I have witnessed ICE and BP racially profile, assault, batter, falsely arrest, intimidate, and harass residents Key West, including fully legal residents and American citizens, while the KWPD has looked on and allowed it to happen.
I have witnessed ICE and BP falsely imprison residents of Key West, including teenagers and entire families, and transport them to internment camps within Florida and even traffic Key West residents to internment camps outside state lines. The KWPD stood by while these residents were taken without due process and allowed it to happen.
When the police, who are tax-funded public servants, willingly refuse to protect the community, that amounts to a form of taxation without representation.
Additionally, I published a petition calling for the arrest of Border Patrol agent Bruno Cabral for illegal violence and intimidation against the people of Key West. That petition has been signed by over 4,000 people. I filed a police report against Cabral months ago, yet the KWPD did nothing. 4,000 people asked the KWPD to act, but the KWPD did nothing.
The KWPD has chosen willfully to neglect their duty to protect the residents of Key West. By knowing full well what has been happening on his island, but doing nothing, the KWPD has fundamentally eroded this community’s trust of police. I have even fielded reports from business owners here in Key West saying that the KWPD has actively racially profiled and detained their employees with the express purpose of handing them over to BP.
It is my recommendation that Chief Brandenburg resign for failing to protect the community he swore under oath to protect. This whole department should be investigated by the state attorney.
I make this report knowing that there are currently reports of the KWPD retaliating against whistleblowers. But I simply refuse to be afraid of public servants. And may I remind the KWPD that is what they are, and all that they are: public servants.
Don’t want to become a paid subscriber?
