Ice said the agent partnered with local Florida law enforcement agencies in an illegal immigration sweep called the tide waves.
Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents working in partnership with local law enforcement in Florida have arrested nearly 800 illegal immigrants across the state over the past four days, the agency announced on April 26.
While ICE has routinely implemented immigration enforcement across the United States, the agency referred to Florida’s efforts, calling it the Tidal Wave Operation, a “first” effort that combines federal immigration authorities with the resources of state and local law enforcement agencies.
At a press conference on April 26th, ICE pitched other law enforcement agencies on the idea of working with agents by linking to pages promoting the 287(g) program.
The 287(g) program grants local law enforcement agencies access to ICE resources and provides funding for immigration enforcement training. Participating law enforcement agencies can identify and deal with removable illegal immigrants already booked in prisons and detention facilities, restrict federal immigration functions during daily police duties, and join ICE agents to provide arrest warrants.
“This is a warning to foreigners of all crime violations. We are here for you,” Homeland Security Secretary Christa Noem wrote in a post on social media platform X on April 26, coinciding with the arrest operation.
“(The Department of Homeland Security), ICE, and state partners will corner you, arrest you and deport you. That’s a promise.”
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis also promoted the arrest operation.
“Florida is actively working with the Trump administration to lead the country in its efforts to enforce immigration and deportation work!” the Republican governor wrote in an X post on April 26th.
Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has stepped up illegal immigrant arrests and deportation operations.
ICE reported that it had arrested around 308 illegal immigrants in its first full day at Trump’s first facility in January.
Some ice arrests and deportation efforts focus on illegal immigrants and individuals accused of engaging in additional criminal activities or maintaining criminal affiliation while residing in the United States.
Recent deportation efforts have targeted international students living in the United States who are engaged in Palestinian protests and activities that federal authorities allegedly crossed in support of terrorism.
Some of these deportation efforts are full of criticism and legal challenges. On April 23, a federal judge ordered the US government to promote the return of 20-year-old Venezuelans native to the US after being deported to El Salvador.
On April 25, the FBI also arrested Hannah Dugan, a state circuit judge in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. Lewis was later arrested by federal agents “after chasing his feet” outside the court, where he appeared on domestic violence charges, the affidavit said.
On April 26, US District Judge Terry Dauty in the Western District of Louisiana raised concerns about the legitimate process by which federal authorities deport illegal immigrant Honduran women who took the child of a two-year-old US citizen. Doughty ordered a May 16th hearing to further investigate the matter.
The attorney for a Cuban-born woman named Heidi Sanchez raised concerns after marrying a US citizen on April 26 while marrying a US citizen under a document known as I-220B.
Sanchez’s lawyer, Claudia Canisares, said Sanchez is the mother of a one-year-old girl and is still breastfed. Cañizares said he submitted to challenge Sánchez’s deportation order on April 24, but learned that his client had already been excluded from the country.
