This is southwest Florida InFocus.

Coming up, the debate over self-deportation as crackdowns from ice over illegal immigration heat up.

Some are choosing a path that avoids involving the legal system, as cold and dry conditions continue to plague the Sunshine State.

Officials warn that the region is now a potential tinderbox.

And as football fans prepare for the biggest game of the year, we head back five decades to learn about the efforts one man made to bring pro ball to South Florida.

Hello, I'm Jennifer Crawford.

As the federal government continues to crack down on illegal immigration, the Department of Homeland Security reports nearly 1.9 million people have agreed to Self-deport in the past year.

A Bonita Springs charity is giving assistance to immigrants trying to self-deport.

WGCU's culture and connections reporter Elizabeth Andarge has the story.

Pause for a moment to audit the year.

We don't know how their future is going to be.

We're going back to our country and we'll have to figure it out once we're there.

Ariana is shopping for her children, but not for a birthday or a holiday present.

These toys are for the journey back to Guatemala, back because Ariana and her two kids are self deporting.

Two weeks ago, Ice detained Ariana's husband.

Within a week, he was deported.

Custodial staff were being booked.

He was an excellent husband.

After work, he would come and he would play with the kids and they had a good time.

And also when I became sick, he would take care of me as well.

Ariana says she struggled as the sole breadwinner and caretaker.

She talked about her decision to leave the U.S.

and Self-deport to Guatemala.

The Los Ninos Necesitan.

I'm doing this for the children because the children need their father.

I'm doing this because they need him emotionally.

You doing this for the family?

When it came to the impending trip, that's when Ariana's children started asking questions.

She told them a partial truth.

They're going to Guatemala for vacation.

Yeah.

Use the c and k c, Papa.

Then they ask if daddy is working.

How come he left the phone home?

That's strange.

Voices of Bonita is a grassroots organization.

And when it started hearing stories like Ariana's, it launched an emergency grant program.

When it's momentos in that type of situation, any support, emotional, economically support, it's it's very much welcome.

So I felt grateful.

As soon as someone loses a breadwinner because of a deportation, they need immediate money right away.

So why don't we just get them 100 bucks right in their hands?

They can pay rent, buy food.

RJ, Paul, Colleen Messer is the co-founder of Voices of Bonita.

He founded it in July of 2025, and says the organization has plans to lend a helping hand and push forward for those going through the immigration process.

I would really like the community to know that we really just care about our neighbors, that we really don't see the person next to us as an immigrant or a citizen.

They're just a neighbor in need, and we want to kind of cushion some of the challenges that they're facing and give them hope and let them know that there is some decency and humanity left in in their immediate streets.

For WGCU news, I'm Elizabeth Andarge For more on the discussions involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement, we are joined by immigration attorney Indera Demine of Fort Myers.

Mrs.

Demine thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you for having me.

Can you first explain what is your practice?

What does it focus on?

What are the cases it's mostly facing right now regarding immigration?

Okay.

Yes.

So we are a full service immigration law firm, which means we handle everything from investor visa, employment petitions to our removal defense.

So we represent folks who are currently in immigration court proceedings.

And we have seen an influx of those cases as of late.

Can you explain what concerns you have, if any, about the handling of immigration cases currently?

Sure.

So, you know, as of late we've seen an influx of detention, obviously.

And in the past I'm able to meet with, family members and say, this is what to expect next after your family members taken into custody.

This is what happens next.

That has sort of been, all over the place as of late.

And I think because part of that might be because the system is a little overwhelmed.

And so what we're seeing is, you know, folks might be detained, but it's harder to find them in the system.

So we look them up on the ice detainee locator.

We cannot find them.

It is taking much longer to file a bond motion, to get folks out of detention center.

We're finding that folks are moving from one detention center to another, and that's causing significant delays in their cases.

We're finding that there is, deniability on bonds.

And so, immigrants are spending a longer time in detention center.

So I am seeing, what I would consider are some due process issues.

You know, here in the United States, if you are, if you have been, charged and arrested for a crime within 24 hours, you get a first appearance, no matter the seriousness of that crime.

So you could be arrested for homicide, and within 24 hours, you get to see a bond.

A judge where the judge decides whether or not you should, get a bond and be released on a bond.

It's not the same for immigrants.

It can be months upon months before an immigrant sees an immigration judge and request the bond.

How should an individual react when they are approached by an immigration officer?

We touched on this because there are multiple things that really you need to be concerned about and careful of.

Absolutely.

You know, at the end of the day, I do think that, I like to weigh what are the consequences and the benefits of my actions.

Right.

And so if you were to say, I am not going to respond to your question, and if you were to resist that officer, ultimately, what is the benefit or the you as an undocumented immigrant will gain from that?

Right?

And so to me, it is not worth it to get into a confrontational situation with law enforcement.

It's just simply not worth it.

It is not going to benefit your immigration case in the long run by getting into one of these confrontational situation with law enforcement.

And we had talked about this in a criminal case.

You know, there might be some benefits to, you know, saying, I don't wish to speak to you.

I am exercising my right to remain silent and so on.

Because in your criminal case, that might work to your advantage.

But for an undocumented immigrant, if you are undocumented or a visa overstay, at the end of the day, if you have no lawful status, whether or not you spoke to the Ice officer and disclosed that to the Ice officer will not change that underlining fact, right.

And so, I my advice usually to my clients is to cooperate, not get into a confrontational situation.

It's not going to help you in the long run.

The in situations like we're seeing in Minnesota, people are claiming that the presence of Ice and Border Patrol is violating state rights.

Where is that line when it comes to a state's responsibility and federal authorities?

Yeah, that's a really important question.

You know, what we've seen traditionally, obviously, immigration has been in the purview of the federal governments.

Right.

And so, and and only I would say within the last few years, we have seen, in the state of Florida, where the state of Florida has made specific immigration related, changes.

We've seen a couple of years ago, SB state bill 1718 that mandates employee employers to E-Verify if they hire 25 or more employees in the state of Florida.

While that's a state law, it has immigration implications.

Right.

And so I do I have seen within the last couple of years or so, certainly in the state of Florida, where state laws are being implemented that impact immigration.

And overall, I will say that that's a dicey issue.

You know, where to state law and, and where does the federal authority come in?

I do think that that ultimately will come in, become a question for the Supreme Court, because what we're seeing is this, whether overlap or contradiction between state and federal law.

And here in the state of Florida, because state, state law enforcement are cooperating with Ice, we don't necessarily have the same friction that we're seeing in Minnesota.

Right?

But ultimately, I think it's it's going to come down to the Supreme Court sort of looking into that issue because we are seeing it come up in Minnesota.

Well, thank you so much for sharing your time and your expertise with us today.

Thank you.

No, thank you for having me.

Thank you so much.

Coming up, southwest Florida is dealing with its worst drought conditions in 25 years.

And officials are worried this could lead to an outbreak of severe wildfires.

The National Weather Service says 2025 was the driest year in more than a decade.

Here in the Sunshine State in southwest Florida, the extreme drought conditions are the worst since 2001.

Take a look at these images of fire from this week in DeSoto County, with smoke billowing from the acres of dry land.

WGCUs senior environmental reporter Tom Bayles says fire officials are bracing for what could be one of the worst wildfire seasons ever.

One of the key elements for working together is reducing risk and improving safety throughout Collier County.

With a year long drought still gripping southwest Florida, there is little doubt that wildfires are in the region's near future.

Unknown is how big the forest fires will get, and if any homes or lives will be lost as the region enters the state's dry season already parched.

We're anticipating that we're going to see an early and more active than regular brush fire season in the upcoming year.

This is mostly due to the current weather pattern and the significant drought that we are experiencing.

That was Chris Wolfe, chief of the Naples Fire District, at the airport, to talk about the coordinated efforts surrounded by the special equipment firefighters use to put down wildfires.

The helicopters that police pilots use to drop huge buckets of water, the bladed tractors that cut fire lines three feet into the ground right in front of an advancing wildfire by Florida forest Rangers like Jesse Lavender.

We're in significant drought, depending on if you're in Collier County and if we're speaking to that, even the little bit of rain we received today isn't doing anything we need.

We need feet of rain.

WGCUs senior environmental reporter Tom Bayles joins us now.

He has produced nearly two dozen stories since the beginning of last year on the drought and the growing wildfire threat.

And two weeks ago, you published a story that also talked about the dangers indicating that pine trees are now like standing matchsticks because this threat is so severe.

Can you tell us more about the significance of the threat?

Yeah, the wildfire threats are very significant in Florida right now, especially Southwest Florida.

The six agencies that came together last month in Naples, that's not common.

They came together for a wildfire awareness day from Florida Forest Service to, Northport and the agencies in southwest Florida, which are the driest part of the state and has been that way for, about a year.

So six agencies came together to warn everybody.

It's that significant?

Yes.

And that does not happen every day.

The threat, has been since the drought started gripping southwest Florida in February of last year, and even last year's rainy season.

It was anemic.

It didn't.

It didn't, draw drop enough rain.

We didn't have any hurricanes.

Fort Myers, it's alone, was 12in below its normal amount of, water.

Its normal amount of rainfall for the summer.

So that drought has continued and just gotten worse until now.

Where, our numbers for the dryness, of the wilderness and, pine trees, like matchsticks are is high.

Well, you mentioned that we all, we all know when hurricane season is.

But when does wildfire season start?

Wildfire season usually begins about now and normally runs until summer.

Rainy season gets going.

But of course, last year there was not much of one.

And, the months of June and July can sometimes be the worst because maybe the rain's a little delayed.

That happened in the late 90s.

There was a horrific wildfire season in North and in more northern Florida during that year here.

It seems like there's going to be they're more concerned about wildfires happening in the next few months.

In fact, there was a wildfire just two days ago that shut down the northbound lanes of Interstate Interstate 75 up in Northport.

We have, local firefighters that are sounding the alarm.

Is anyone else?

Yes.

We've actually gotten national attention pointed right at Southwest Florida.

The National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, has issued, alerts for us, as has AccuWeather, the private, weather firm forecasting firm based in Pennsylvania.

They've said, hey, southeast, look out.

What can we do as homeowners, as citizens in Southwest Florida to help as much as we can?

Well, if you live in one of the woodsy subdivisions they call called ones built into the woods, a little more inland, you need to build a defensible space around your house.

And that is a 30 or 40ft buffer where nothing can burn.

And we're talking not just wood piles or propane tanks, but you might even think of a wooden fence around your house that can act like a wick and bring the wildfire from the woods straight to your house.

You need to clear your, gutters of leaves.

You need to make sure that there's a screen over your chimney.

If you have one.

And for those who don't live in the woods and just want general wildfire tips on what to do if one breaks out, the Florida Forest Service has a great website called Be Wildfire ready, and anybody online can look that up.

And Tom, you have been covering the environmental, stories for at least 25 years in southwest Florida.

And you've had an expertise in wildfires and drought.

What is your opinion on how this season compares to what you've seen in the past two decades?

I think that's probably indicated by the amount of attention that we've given the, drought last year and the wildfire, season upcoming this year with the amount of, stories that we've done online, on the radio and on TV here at GCU.

The wildfire threat this year is, is way above normal.

And I expect to see wildfires.

And what I hope is none will burn down any houses.

Certainly there will be no injuries or deaths.

But past seasons have shown us that when it gets this bad, we can expect some bad things to happen.

Well, thank you for the information and your expertise and your knowledge on this.

Much appreciated.

Thank you.

Tom.

To stay ahead of brush fire season, you can head to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services website.

There is a list of available resources to help you prepare for the wildfire season.

100 years ago, the glamorous and opulent styles of Art Deco made the way across the pond and into the American art scene.

One of the most prominent artists of that time was Tamara de Lempicka.

She is one of the focal points of an exhibition at the Baker Museum of Art in Naples that celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of Art Deco.

WGCU arts and culture reporter Tom Hall has the story.

The Temara de Lempicka retrospective at the Baker Museum, contains four paintings from the private collection of namesakes Jay and Patti Baker.

But it's unlikely they'd own any of her works if it hadn't been for happenstance, Patty Baker explains.

Back in the 1980s in New York City, friends of ours had told us about this event at the Armory on Park Avenue.

It was a play, and you had to have passports that they gave you when you entered to follow in these rooms.

It was about the life of this woman named to Madeleine Pica.

Fantastic idea.

And it was a fantastic play.

And that's how we learned about her and her life.

The Polish artist was well traveled between France and Italy in the 1920s and 30s, but it wasn't Olympique, his art that started the bakers collecting.

They went with another famous Parisian.

Here's Jay Baker.

One of the first paintings we got.

We got a monet.

So I was in seventh heaven, you know, for half a pound.

It was like crazy at a Christie's auction in 2004.

They added a Fernand Léger Cubist painting that their collection.

But as luck would have it, a 1929 Olympic was also in the auction catalog.

The portrait of Mrs.

Rufus Bush.

We had a dinner date and Jay had to go to meet the people, and I was still on the phone, so our limit came and went and I thought I got so I'd be right.

So I put another bid in and somebody did over me and I fuck.

What do I do?

So I beat again and somebody beat over me.

And I thought, I'm going to kill me.

And I over and I got it.

But now she had to tell her husband that she'd spent more than what they'd agreed they'd pay.

So I told, and he said, what is that?

How much?

And I said, don't worry, we'll deal with it.

We'll deal with it.

And he loved it.

He absolutely loved it.

And we loved the story behind it.

Commissioned by a man for his fiancee.

The portrait was banished to storage after their divorce.

Six decades later, the daughter decided to sell it and got way more than she ever dreamed.

On the alert for more Olympics, the baker saw a second painting in a Christie's catalog titled woman with dove from 1931.

And I remember we were weird riding somewhere, and we were bidding on it, and we were told we got it.

We rare off the road.

The bidding drive was the key word on it.

Since then, they've acquired two more Olympic portraits, including a mesmerizing painting of the artist's daughter, Kitsap.

There was one that got away that was Portrait of Margery Ferry, which sold at Christie's London in 2020 for $21 million.

Still, Lempicka remains a virtual unknown even in art circles.

That's why the bankers loaned their collection for the retrospective, which began in San Francisco before traveling to Houston and now Naples.

It's the first U.S.

exhibition of Olympic his work.

Just to hear people talk about this woman whose work had never been talked about before was this.

She got her due.

So I'm hoping that it opens people's eyes now and that more people learn about her and that she is included and studies in school.

There's still time to see Tamara Dillon Peak at the Baker Museum of Art, but not much.

The exhibition closes February 8th for WGCU news.

I'm Tom Hall, with videography by Joseph Lyshon.

The Baker Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m.

to 4 p.m., and Sundays from noon to four.

For more information, head to artist naples.org.

After the break, the bucks stop here.

We take a look at the incredible effort that was needed to bring profess This Sunday, the Superbowl is expected to once again break the record for the most viewed TV program in history.

While New England and Seattle will be the center of attention.

Florida has a well-established connection with professional football, and 50 years ago, one local man was instrumental in making sure that Tampa would be a perfect location for an NFL franchise.

WGCU's Bryant Monteilh tackles this story.

Bringing the NFL to Tampa can largely be credited to the man who had a simple idea and a vision.

Bill Markham was a businessman, a salesman and promoter.

One day, while living and working in Tampa, he found something special.

He decided to make some phone calls directly to the NFL teams to see if they would play an exhibition game in Tampa.

His first call was to the NFL team in Washington.

Now he needed to find them an opponent, and it would be the new expansion franchise, the Atlanta Falcons.

And on August 10th, 1968, That historic event laid the groundwork to catch the attention of the NFL, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers played their first season in 1976 mark and became the team's first employee when he was hired by original owner Hugh Culverhouse.

Marcum, who now lives at the preserve of Fort Myers, proudly wears a classic Bucs football jersey that the team recently gave him.

The number 76 represents the year that the team started its first NFL season.

A simple idea became a long standing football legacy filled with all its grit and glory.

For week news, I'm Bryant Monteilh.

Coming up next week with Valentine's Day right around the corner.

We talk with a dating expert to learn how anyone can find true love, no matter your age.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Make sure you head to WGCU.org where you'll find all of our stories, plus those extended interviews.

Have a great weekend.

We look forward to seeing you again next week right here on Southwest Florida.

InFocus.