Gov. DeSantis proud the federal government plans to emulate the state’s approach.
By Ramon Lopez
Original Air Date: May 16, 2025
Host: Operation Tidal Wave, the dragnet that caught more than 1,000 immigrants in Florida is expanding. Governor Ron DeSantis touted the state’s partnership with the federal government to crack down on undocumented immigrants at a press conference at a Florida Highway Patrol station in Tampa this week. WSLR News’ Ramon Lopez reports.
DeSantis, during the Tampa press conference. Screen grab YouTube
Ron DeSantis: If you look nationwide at all the law enforcement agencies that have entered into 287(g) agreements with the federal government, more than half of them are in one state. Guess which state that is? State of Florida.
Ramon Lopez: Operation Tidal Wave, which last month netted over 1,000 arrests of alleged undocumented foreign workers across Florida, may soon be flooding the nation.
On Monday, at a press conference in Tampa, a senior aide to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced that, within the next 60 days, the federal government will attempt to put into practice an approach to mass deportation that’s “strikingly similar” to Operation Tidal Wave.
He went on to say Operation Tidal Wave will be the model for future national immigration enforcement. The techniques used by Florida law enforcement to round up the migrant workers will be the standards that other states will apply in conducting similar raids. This, according to Larry Keefe, Executive Director of the State Board of Immigration Enforcement.
He displayed a 37-page document titled “The State of Florida Immigration Enforcement Operations Plan.” It’s Florida’s blueprint for mass deportation.
President Trump says the Secretary of Homeland Security will, on July 8, supplement his existing federal law enforcement personnel with at least 20,000 reinforcements to remove illegal aliens. They will include deputized state and local law enforcement officers, among others.
DeSantis sees himself as the point man for immigration enforcement and is willing to do more. He said, “We’ve submitted a plan to the federal government to contribute new detention facilities and expanded apprehension efforts to their ongoing mission to reclaim America’s sovereignty.”
Photo via ICE.gov.
Florida’s plan also includes a proposal to help expedite immigration legal processing by deputizing Florida National Guard lawyers as immigration judges.
1,800 Florida Highway Patrol troopers are already deputized to support federal agents in such operations. Additionally, more than 100 are sworn in as Special Deputy U.S. Marshals, empowering them to execute federal warrants and arrest criminals.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is already being supported by more than 200 local law enforcement agencies in the Sunshine State for Operation Tidal Wave, which continues.
Demonstrators in a pro-immigrant protest in Downtown Sarasota this February.
This week, more than two dozen undocumented immigrants at construction sites at The Villages were scooped up by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents.
Elsewhere, a week-long immigration enforcement effort in Houston ended with the arrest of more than 400 undocumented migrants.
And ICE has on ice at least 103 individuals for alleged immigration violations. They were picked up during traffic stops in and near Nashville. This prompted the city’s mayor to challenge the enforcement effort.
This is Ramon Lopez for WSLR News.
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