ICE and Florida Law Enforcement Net Nearly 800 Arrests in Multi-Day Operation

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) along with Florida’s law enforcement agencies reported multiple days of operations resulting in almost 800 individuals being taken into custody during an immigration enforcement sweep over the weekend.

ICE praised "Operation Tidal Wave" as a "remarkably successful mission," highlighting an exceptional collaboration between local and federal law enforcement agencies.

"State and federal agencies entered into an unprecedented collaboration as part of #OperationTidalWave, leading to the arrest of almost 800 undocumented immigrants within the initial four days of the extensive joint immigration enforcement initiative conducted by ICE Miami and Florida law enforcement," stated ICE in a posting accompanied by images from the event on their X platform.

Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, who belongs to the Republican Party, also praised the joint effort In a posting made on the social media platform Saturday, they referred to it as "a prime instance of FL and [Department of Homeland Security] collaborating effectively to achieve significant outcomes in immigration enforcement and deportation efforts."

"Florida is at the forefront of actively collaborating with the Trump administration for immigration enforcement and deportation efforts!" Desantis included in a distinct X post .

The operation relies on ICE’s 287(g) program , which enables ICE to deputize local law enforcement agencies to help enforce federal immigration law.

ICE, in their post on X, urged other local law enforcement agencies to think about potentially collaborating with them moving forward.

In the past, the agency has encountered strong opposition from certain city leaders who aimed to support migrants and spoke out against the Trump administration’s immigration policies.

As the White House intensifies nationwide immigration enforcement measures, this operation mirrors a crucial campaign pledge made by President Trump. However, it has also sparked opposition due to several deportation cases where concerns have been raised about whether those targeted received adequate due process.

Todd Lyons, who was serving as the acting director of ICE, highlighted the collaboration with local authorities in Florida throughout the previous week. telling ABC News I believe the primary reason this operation holds importance is due to it being unprecedented.

"It’s not just about the work we've been carrying out; we’ve brought all our federal collaborators into alignment alongside Homeland Security Investigations and Enforcement as well as Removal Operations, which encompass all the enforcement divisions within ICE. Additionally, we're leveraging our 287(g) partnerships across the state of Florida. This involves collaborating with various levels of law enforcement at the state, local, and county level to support our initiatives," he added.

“Thus, this marks one of our earliest major undertakings of this kind,” Lyons stated. “We adopted an all-of-government strategy with collaborative agencies eager to assist ICE in securing communities within neighborhoods and eliminating public safety risks from these areas.”

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