ICE detains over 100 in Florida immigration raid (not pictured) – Police Pulls Over Vehicle – Courtesy: Shutterstock – Image by Michael O’Keene
One of Florida’s worst one-day immigration raids resulted in the arrest of over 100 persons at a construction site in Tallahassee on May 29. The setting was characterized as tense, with some law enforcement officers using camouflage and face covers.
The Florida Highway Patrol, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)-affiliated Homeland Security Investigations, and other Florida and federal law enforcement agencies carried out the immigration raids at a student housing development site near Florida State University in the College Town neighborhood. An hour earlier, a nearby construction site was raided, according to worker Michael Martinez, who spoke to the Tallahassee Democrat, which is a part of the USA TODAY Network.
Before releasing or arresting anyone, officers allegedly verified their IDs and permits.
Authorities “arrested more than 100 illegal aliens, some of which were previously deported and others with criminal backgrounds,” the Department of Homeland Security announced on social media, referring to the operation as “a targeted enforcement operation.”
According to officials, some of the people held in a bus were from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Colombia, while others told reporters at the scene they were from Mexico, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Honduras.
The raids occur as the administration of President Donald Trump brags about its crackdown on illegal aliens, increasing arrests around the nation and closing border crossings. People who attend for required court appearances regarding their immigration matters are now being detained by ICE authorities.
This year, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature have pushed the state to become the “toughest” on illegal immigration in the nation. They have passed legislation and given state and local law enforcement hundreds of millions of dollars to increase the state’s power to detain and house undocumented immigrants in order to fulfill Trump’s order for mass deportations.
In April, ICE and Florida law enforcement conducted “Operation Tidal Wave,” the biggest combined immigration operation in Florida history, which resulted in 1,120 arrests. The operation took place between April 21 and April 26 and lasted six days.
According to the Tennessean, a division of the USA TODAY Network, ICE raids have also rocked Nashville in the past month, with a weeklong operation that resulted in the detention of over 200 people. According to the Reno Gazette Journal, which is a part of the USA TODAY Network, over fifty people were detained in northern Nevada earlier in May in Reno, Carson City, and Tahoe; the majority of them were deported.
A federal judge’s decision to temporarily halt a new law that would have made it a state crime for undocumented immigrants to enter or re-enter Florida is now being appealed by Florida. Since DeSantis consented to participate in Trump’s aggressive mass deportation program, the operation was probably the biggest single illegal immigration sweep in Florida.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement website features an online detainee locating system to find detainees who are 18 years of age or older and have been in ICE custody for more than 48 hours.
To look for ICE inmates, go here.
According to ICE, you can use the system without creating an account or providing any personal information, but it does gather information such as your IP address, domain name, and the URL of the website you linked to directly from the ODLS website.
However, according to ICE, the data isn’t utilized for immigration enforcement purposes and isn’t used to identify or monitor people.
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Chris began his writing as a hobby while attending Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida. Today he and his wife live in the Orlando area with their three children and dog.