Organizers call for donations to ‘Food for Our Neighbors’ and the Voices of Florida Fund’s toy drive.
By Johannes Werner
Original Air Date: December 17, 2025
Host: It’s the holiday season, but thousands of immigrant families in the area are under duress or in outright distress. This Saturday, four local groups are rallying Sarasotans to a vigil in downtown, allowing the community to hear some of their neighbors’ stories. Here are the details.
Ermelinda Velasquez
Ermelinda Velázquez: I’m a first generation Mexican-American. My mom was an immigrant. I don’t have to worry about my mom being persecuted because, unfortunately, my mom’s passed away. But still. It hurts. It hurts because we should not be singled out as bad people. Most of these majority come over to pursue a better life and big hopes and dreams—that big old American dream—and it’s sad that it doesn’t feel that way sometimes because my people are hurting.
Johannes Werner: This is Ermelinda Velásquez, answering a reporter’s question why she has become an organizer with El Pueblo Unido Tampa Bay—something she would not have even thought possible just a year ago.
SURE has organized clergy-led prayer vigils in Payne Park every Sunday at 4 pm. These vigils are particularly focused on the immigrant detention camp in the Everglades and are coordinated with the Miccosukee Tribe.
El Pueblo Unido joined with three other organizations—SURE, the Democratic Women’s Club, and the Southwest Florida Immigration Coalition—to host a vigil this Saturday, 6 p.m, at Five Points Park in downtown Sarasota.
EV: On Saturday, we will be reading off stories from our community members that have been affected by these immigration deportations.
JW: This is about making people aware that thousands of families in this area have been affected by traffic stops. Things as simple as a cracked windshield, a broken tail light, or a rolling stop can lead to ICE detention and deportation now. ICE referrals this year by the Sarasota Sheriff’s Department have tripled. In Manatee County, they’re up more than 80 percent.
Protest earlier this year in Sarasota organized by El Pueblo Unido.
And that leads to families in distress. Ermelinda Velásquez:
EV: There was a recent family in distress that the mom was deported a couple of months ago, and then recently the father tried to attend a doctor’s appointment with the child, and a traffic stop was performed, and he is also in ICE detention, and now the children don’t have a mom or a father in the house. Kids’ livelihoods are at stake. If the breadwinner’s gone, mom’s having to figure out how to feed her child. Food for everyone, regardless of our documented status, should not be withheld. Pretty much, we’re throwing these kids out to the real world, maybe having to commit crimes. Who benefits from that society?
JW: There will actually be two vigils this weekend in support of immigrants in Sarasota—the one-time event Saturday evening and a weekly prayer vigil led by clerics, which happens every Sunday, 4 p.m, at Payne Park.
Velásquez wants the Five Points event to be for everyone.
Immigrant protest in Sarasota earlier this year.
EV: I would like to invite the community to go out despite what your view is and your point of view and opinion of immigration. Come out. Listen. Have compassion. It is beautiful. This is nonviolent. We’re just pretty much praying and letting these people know that we know you’re being affected. We see you, we hear you, and we are here to help.
JW: The organizers are asking rally participants to bring non-perishable food – rice, beans, maseca flour – for the local “Food for Our Neighbors” drive.
Velásquez also encourages people to donate to Voices of Florida Fund’s toy drive for immigrant children.
Again, the vigil in support of immigrants will begin 6 p.m. this Saturday, December 21, at Five Points Park in downtown Sarasota.
Reporting for WSLR News, Johannes Werner.
WSLR News aims to keep the local community informed with our 1/2 hour local news show, quarterly newspaper and social media feeds. The local news broadcast airs on Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm.