Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to assist the federal government with immigration enforcement, but he doesn’t want the state to have to detain immigrants lacking authorization for an extended period of time.
The governor on Wednesday signed three additional memos with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, deputizing state agents to interrogate people about their immigration status and detain them if they lack proper documentation. The Florida State Guard, Department of Law Enforcement, and Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services are the latest agencies to become part of such an agreement after DeSantis signed one for Highway Patrol on Feb. 7.
“You have the ability now to conduct operations once they are deputizing and they’re training,” DeSantis said during a press conference Wednesday afternoon in the Capitol. “But I think our hope would be that we can swiftly turn them over to ICE custody, rather than us having to be, you know, kind of the clearing out of boarding house for this indefinitely.”
However, he said, the state wouldn’t release people taken into custody for lacking legal status.
Forty-five sheriff’s offices across the state have had similar agreements, under the 287 (g) program, to turn people already in jail or correctional facilities over to ICE since 2019, according to the federal agencies’ website listing the participating entities. The Florida Department of Corrections signed an agreement with ICE in 2020.
Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson has signed an agreement for the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services law enforcement, DeSantis said.
–Jackie Llanos, Florida Phoenix
