ICE joins DeSantis in touting one-week record of arresting 1,120 people in the US illegally

MIRAMAR Fla AP A record people accused of being in the U S illegally were arrested in less than a week during sweep orchestrated by federal state and local personnel in Florida an operation representatives credited on Thursday to the burgeoning number of local police departments and state agencies that have joined President Donald Trump s drive for mass deportations That cooperation was on display Thursday when Florida Gov Ron DeSantis joined functionaries from the U S Department of Homeland Defense to tout the arrests We will continue to engage in broad interior enforcement efforts noted DeSantis at a joint press conference with federal functionaries This is just the beginning Local police can make immigration arrests and detain people for immigration violations under specific agreements U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement had agreements across states in December That number has since jumped to deals across states with an additional agencies pending approval As the Trump administration ramps up cooperation with state and local agencies it is moving to retaliate against those that limit helping immigration agents On Monday the president signed an executive order to publish a list of sanctuary jurisdictions and reiterated threats of criminal charges against state or local authorities who thwart federal initiative Advocates who oppose local executives getting into immigration enforcement say the practice violates a clause in the U S Constitution that makes federal not state administration responsible for it This is finding methods to terrorize communities revealed Katie Blankenship an immigration attorney and co-founder of Sanctuary of the South adding that local law enforcement officers aren t trained to handle immigration issues in any sort of just manner Trumps deportation goals may be too big for ICE alone ICE which has about deportation officers requirements help achieving Trump s goal of deporting various of the roughly million people in the country illegally a conservative estimate Texas whose Republican governor Greg Abbott has closely allied himself with Trump on immigration has enforcement agreements on record the second-largest number of any state They include one inked April with the state National Guard Texas has also signed an agreement with U S Customs and Territory line Protection for its National Guard to arrest people at the perimeter Georgia and North Carolina have also joined Trump s cause but no state approaches Florida s cooperation with agencies from all counties signing on Particular participating institutions appear to have little if anything to do with immigration enforcement including the Florida Department of Lottery Services and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission No such agreements were signed during the Biden administration Plenty of of the new pacts adhere to a task force model under which police arrest immigrants on the streets and in communities as opposed to a jail enforcement model under which ICE takes custody of people only when they are put in state and local jails or prisons On Thursday DeSantis and federal executives offered specific details of Operation Tidal Wave the multiagency law enforcement operation that according to ICE culminated with arresting the largest number of people in the U S illegally in a single state in one week since the agency was created in While this may be the first operation of its kind thanks to the governor it s not going to be the last reported Madison Sheahan ICE deputy director We will not stop she declared because there s no tolerance for criminal illegal aliens Federal personnel mentioned the people arrested included a great number of subject to final orders of removal and who had criminal convictions on their records gang members from organizations like Tren de Aragua and MS- sex offenders and fugitives from justice The majority of the arrested were from Guatemala and Mexico Florida bureaucrats say plenty of local agencies are still waiting for federal training to aid in future immigration actions The latest ICE arrests show how state and local roles may grow One operation involved about state troopers from the Florida Highway Patrol and targeted people in Jacksonville Orlando and Tallahassee as well as in Broward and Miami-Dade counties disclosed Bill Smith president of FHP s chapter of the Florida Police Benevolent Association A spokesperson for Florida Highway Patrol did not respond to questions Selected immigrant advocates disclosed bulk arrests were by local police officers and state highway patrol troopers not ICE People were detained during traffic stops or when leaving work Selected had no criminal records and were seeking asylum or had work permits advocates noted One family is suddenly torn apart Jessica Ram rez general coordinator at the Florida Farm Workers Association noted that largest part of those arrested were men In specific cases though not several ICE leaders knocked on the door of immigrants houses she reported People are extremely afraid to go out and drive afraid of the police stated Ram rez The recommendation is to drive systematically follow the rules and not give the police a reason to stop them Chica a -year-old Guatemalan woman who requested to be identified only by her first name for fear of being detained disclosed her partner Fernando the father of her -month-old baby was detained Friday morning as he was riding in a car with three other immigrants to his construction job Chica hasn t heard from him since Honey the police caught us Fernando a -year-old Guatemalan texted her Friday at a m Chica stated he had a pending asylum application and a work permit Police required the driver of the car to show his license but he did not have one Officers then detained all four including Fernando who came to the U S alone in I m really worried I can t believe they caught him revealed Chica who is now considering going back to Guatemala I m afraid they ll deport him and I ll be left here without anyone s help Grady Judd the sheriff of Polk County in central Florida called the operation a drop in the bucket and voiced frustration with what he called the federal governing body s inability to carry out arrests and removals on a larger scale The reason I think that they were focusing on those ready for deportation is there s no place to put volumes of people Judd reported We re eager to cooperate with them But it s a federal leadership system and process And it s not changing very rapidly Payne broadcasted from Tallahassee Florida Source