(The Center Square) – Florida Highway Patrol and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have an agreement to carry out immigration enforcement.
The agreement, said Gov. Ron DeSantis, will allow state law enforcement officials to execute the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement's 287(g) program to deport people who have illegally entered or are living in the country.
Florida is the second state – Texas was first – to reach an agreement with the federal government under President Donald Trump's administration.
"Florida law enforcement officers are already doing great work, and we look forward to unleashing even more resources to capture and deport the illegal aliens who were invited into our country by the Biden administration," DeSantis said at a news conference in Tallahassee. "These next four years must be when we end the illegal immigration crisis once and for all."
The second-term Republican governor said his administration has been "working in good faith" with legislative leaders to making sure state law "reflects the urgency of the situation" when it comes to immigration enforcement.
Lawmakers passed a bill, the Tackling and Reforming Unlawful Migration Policy Act, better known as the TRUMP Act, in a special session Jan. 28 that DeSantis says did not go far enough to help with deportations and might constrain present state efforts on combatting illegal immigration.
DeSantis said the state has been strong on immigration enforcement since he took office in 2019. It was the first to send more than 1,000 law enforcement officers and the National Guard to the southern border in Texas for Operation Lonestar in 2021.
He also said the state has repatriated more than 17,000 people and seized 420 vessels in Operation Vigilant Sentry since January 2023 from the state's southern waters to the U.S. Coast Guard.
State Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Director Dave Kerner said ICE and U.S. Department of Homeland Security have already helped Florida law enforcement agencies make several sweeps of two criminal gangs, Tren de Aragua and MS-13.
Kerner said the 287 (g) program is a key weapon in the immigration fight and participation gives the more than 2,000 Florida Highway Patrol troopers the ability to conduct interrogations, process arrestees for immigration violations and other federally-deputized powers.
"This agreement will be seen as a turning point in the battle to defend our homeland and our state," Kerner said.