Local cops are making Florida an immigration enforcement hot spot
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Efforts to arrest and remove unauthorized immigrants appear most aggressive in Florida and other southern states with Democratic-leaning cities, according to an Axios analysis.
Why it matters: Our review of removal orders, pending deportation cases and agreements between immigration officials and local law enforcement agencies sheds light on where the Trump administration is dispatching resources to support its mass deportation plan.
- The analysis shows local law enforcement agencies in Texas and Florida have been most cooperative with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in rounding up immigrants through deals known as 287 (g) agreements.
- There are 629 such agreements now in place across the country. About 43% of them are in Florida.
Zoom in: Earlier this year, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed off on the state's harshest immigration reform yet.
- The sweeping law directs local governments to partner with federal immigration efforts while broadening the reasons cops can detain immigrants and narrowing protections for undocumented crime victims and witnesses.
- Policies that impede immigration enforcement are now barred in Florida, and sheriffs must also share inmates' immigration status with ICE. Noncompliance can result in fines and suspension.
The result: Recent raids in Florida by a coalition of agencies led to 1,120 arrests in an effort dubbed Operation Tidal Wave.
- Of the 42,000 removals of immigrants ordered in March, nearly 50% involved people in Texas, California, New York, Virginia and Florida, according to an analysis of data from the nonpartisan Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC).
The big picture: The data analyzed by Axios and the locations of the agreements between federal and local authorities reflect a few simple truths about immigration enforcement across the U.S.
- There aren't nearly enough federal agents to meet President Trump's unprecedented deportation goal of deporting a million immigrants a year.
- In some places where the Trump administration faces a gap in resources, local law enforcement agencies are unable or unwilling to meet the feds' demands or expand beyond their usual enforcement duties.
- With the nation's borders essentially locked down, the administration has shifted much of its deportation operations to the nation's interior.
National Sheriffs' Association executive director and CEO Jonathan Thompson said some sheriffs are concerned that their departments could undermine their communities' trust by working with ICE.
The other side: Trump border czar Tom Homan, a former ICE director, told Axios he rejects the notion that working with immigration officials can undermine the community's trust in local authorities.
- He cites the administration's focus on arresting criminals — though many of those detained by ICE haven't had criminal records.