Governor Ron DeSantis highlights success of Florida-Federal immigration partnership as Operation Tidal Wave reaches more than 10,000 arrests
Press release from the Office of Governor Ron DeSantis
SANDERSON, Fla. — Governor Ron DeSantis announced today that Operation Tidal Wave has resulted in over 10,000 arrests, marking a significant milestone in Florida’s ongoing efforts to protect its citizens and support federal immigration enforcement. The initiative underscores the strength of Florida’s partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and reflects the state’s commitment to public safety and the rule of law.
“Since Operation Tidal Wave launched eight months ago, Florida law enforcement agencies have arrested more than 10,400 illegal aliens and worked with federal partners to remove them from our state and country,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “This is the largest joint immigration enforcement operation in ICE’s history, and we’re proud that it will continue here in Florida.”
“Many of the 10,000+ individuals arrested as part of Operation Tidal Wave were trying to prey on our children. Rest assured, our Statewide Prosecutors will ensure these criminals do serious time behind bars before we send them back to where they came from,” said Attorney General James Uthmeier. “I am grateful for the strong partnership between Florida and federal law enforcement. Florida leads, and I encourage other states to follow.”
“Illegal immigration has plagued our nation for the better part of 50 years, but because of the leadership of Governor DeSantis and President Donald Trump, we are taking serious steps towards rectifying this problem,” said Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia. “It is clear that the people of the United States and the people of Florida will not stand for criminal illegal aliens settling into our communities. Illegal immigrants should think twice before coming into our country and into our state, because if they are caught in Florida, they will be sent back home.”
“Florida’s immigration enforcement efforts are delivering real results to the people of our state. Operation Tidal Wave is a prime example of those efforts, with more than 10,000 arrests made, marking a major milestone to protect public safety and uphold the rule of law. Through our first-in-the-nation 287(g) partnerships, Florida is working hand-in-hand with the federal government to ensure that individuals in our country illegally – especially those with serious criminal convictions – are identified, detained, and processed appropriately,” said Florida Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson. “I’m grateful for the strong leadership of President Donald Trump and his commitment to enforcing our immigration laws and supporting states that are willing to step up, as well as Governor Ron DeSantis, who has made public safety a top priority here in Florida. Florida will continue to lead the way by putting the safety of our citizens first and standing firmly behind law enforcement at every level.”
“This milestone shows what can be achieved when state and federal agencies come together with a shared mission,” said Florida Division of Emergency Management Executive Director Kevin Guthrie. “By combining resources, authorities, and expertise, Operation Tidal Wave has delivered tangible results and established a framework other states can replicate.”
“Florida continues to show that it is the blueprint for immigration enforcement by demonstrating how coordinated, accountable partnerships can deliver real results statewide,” said Executive Director Dave Kerner. “The Florida Highway Patrol will continue to support as a force multiplier, ensuring that our statewide efforts remain coordinated, effective, and firmly aligned with our mission to protect Florida’s communities.”
“As Florida’s lead domestic security and investigative agency, we’ve seen firsthand how the 287(g) program improves our ability to identify and address threats to our state,” said FDLE Commissioner Mark Glass. “Thanks to Governor DeSantis’ leadership, FDLE remains committed to supporting these operations and protecting communities across the Free State of Florida.”
“We are a country of laws, and Florida is and always will be a law-and-order state,” said Florida State Board of Immigration Enforcement Director Anthony Coker. “We will never apologize for doing anything in our power to make sure Floridians are safe.”
Operation Tidal Wave is the first program of its kind in the nation. Established under 287(g) agreements, the initiative allows Florida state agencies to work directly with ICE, exercising immigration authority that has historically been reserved for the federal government. Through this cooperation, and since the programs began in April 2025, state officers have been able to identify, detain, and process individuals in the country illegally, including those under final deportation orders and those with serious criminal convictions.
The countries of origin of those arrested include the following:
- 3,435 from Guatemala
- 3,331 from Mexico
- 1,353 from Honduras
- 312 from El Salvador
- 312 from Venezuela
- 1,249 from elsewhere
Throughout the operation, federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies worked in coordination across Florida to apprehend criminal illegal aliens. ICE leveraged field office assets in partnership with federal agencies to identify and target priority enforcement cases. Participating federal partners included ICE Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the FBI, the DEA, the ATF, and the U.S. Marshals Service.
Under Governor Ron DeSantis’ leadership, the State of Florida provided extensive operational support through multiple state agencies to assist with the statewide enforcement effort.
Numerous county sheriff offices also played a critical role in supporting ICE operations, including:
- Alachua County
- Baker County
- Bradford County
- Brevard County
- Clay County
- Hernando County
- Hillsborough County
- Indian River County
- Orange County
- Pinellas County
- St. Johns County
- Sumter County
- Volusia County
Operation Tidal Wave is not only reducing the number of individuals who pose risks to Florida’s communities but is also setting a precedent for how states can take a proactive role in supplementing federal immigration enforcement. Florida’s model demonstrates that when states act decisively and coordinate with federal partners, public safety is strengthened and law and order are preserved.
For more news and information on Florida’s efforts to support immigration enforcement and protect public safety, follow the Florida Division of Emergency Management on X at @FLSERT.
Members of the public can report crimes and suspicious activity by calling 1-866-DHS-2-ICE (866-347-2423) or by completing ICE’s online tip form.
Sweet! Deport EVERY single illegal alien.
“FY 2024 Arrests: Over 81,000 (71.7%) of ICE’s 113,431 arrests were noncitizens with criminal convictions or pending charges, including serious offenses like assault, sexual assault, and homicide.
Detention Focus: Data from late 2025 indicated a high percentage of individuals in ICE detention (around 71-74%) had no criminal convictions, with many convicted having only minor offenses (like traffic violations).
Shifting Tactics: Increased enforcement operations led to more arrests, but a growing share of these (nearly half) were non-criminals, partly due to “collateral arrests” during operations targeting others. …”
Biden was president in 2024, Trump in 2025. The data shows the sloppy randomness and lack of due process of the Trump effort. Remember, he ran on the promise of focusing on criminal immigrants. He’s not, and many long time hard working immigrants with families are being pulled from communities they were a working part of. It also turns out that besides for ruining peoples lives, we need hard workers in the US as we don’t reproduce in numbers to keep our economy humming. Those are facts.
https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/ice-releases-fiscal-year-2024-annual-report
https://tracreports.org/whatsnew/email.250926.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/immigration/2025/12/28/ice-deportations-data-trump-arrests/
No pay wall copy of WaPo article.
https://wapo.st/3Z20rOa
Go Ron Go! Your’e my hero. How bout you Jazz? Is Gillium still your hero???
Martha’s Vineyard case was the start….you can be proud of the bullies, cruelty, liars and costly expense but most decent people are disgusted by this kind of behavior.
“Vertol, the company that was paid $1.5 million to operate the flights and said several claims against the vendor can proceed. The judge also said there evidence to support allegations that the migrants were targeted because they were Hispanic.
“The court sees no legitimate purposes for rounding up highly vulnerable individuals on false pretenses and publicly injecting them into a divisive national debate,” Burroughs wrote.
DeSantis pushed to get $12 million from the Legislature for his migrant relocation program and records showed that several top aides were deeply involved in the planning of the Martha’s Vineyard flights. The class-action lawsuit filed against DeSantis by Lawyers for Civil Rights Boston — on behalf of some of those on the flight — as well as Alianza Americas said that migrants were lied to about where they were going and told they would have housing and jobs once they reached their destination.”
Video of ICE agent shooting woman – go to “2nd video” and click on “show”. She was not trying to run anyone over, including the goon who shot her point blank. She was trying to pull away. She was supposedly a US citizen.
https://bsky.app/profile/bnonews.com
How do you feel about the murder of Ashli Babbit?
Of course what happened on Jan 6 was irrelevant to what happened yesterday, but here you go:
Ashley tried to jump through a locked door sidelight into the rear of the House chamber where numerous House members were hiding from the mob and where armed Capital police were placed at doors with instructions to shoot intruders, protecting those members their key responsibility The shooter could not know if she was armed or not but her actions were obviously agressive and her plan also unknown.
The woman shot yesterday was in her car trying to leave the scene which consisted of numerous unmarked cars. She was literally pulling away from the shooter (tires turned to the right, he on the left) and he had to pursue her to get off 2 of his shots, at least 1 of which he was standing 2′ in the clear to the outside of the driver door. It was clearly murder. Look at the video.