The new police chief, Matthew Castillo, will assume command of the Doral Police Department, with his swearing-in scheduled for June 17, following the resignation of outgoing chief Edwin López.
After serving for 17 months as chief of the Miami Springs Police Department, which has only 47 sworn officers, Castillo made it one of the most active local law enforcement agencies in Miami-Dade County in its collaboration with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) through the 287(g) program.
This program authorized some of its officers to carry out immigration enforcement actions, as the immigration arrest rate in Miami Springs exceeds that of most of the larger municipalities in Florida. In Miami-Dade County, Sunny Isles Beach, with about 22,000 residents, recorded the highest number of immigration arrests, with a total of 32. In South Florida, Boynton Beach, a city of more than 83,000 inhabitants, ranked second with 20 such arrests.
Castillo, in his statement on Wednesday, said that “there is no reason to be afraid.”
“We don’t enforce immigration status regulations; we simply apply the law. In Miami Springs, we have never had a resident detained for immigration reasons,” Castillo stated. “If someone breaks the law and is a repeat offender, we simply follow established procedures, and that person ends up in jail.”
