A joint federal, state, and local immigration enforcement operation dubbed "Operation Tidal Wave" led to the arrest of nearly 800 illegal aliens across Florida over the last few days.
According to the Tallahassee Democrat, the law enforcement effort targeted people in Miami-Dade and Broward counties and the cities of Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Stuart, Tallahassee, and Fort Myers.
Of the 800 arrested, 275 were arrested with final orders of removal, meaning that an immigration judge had already ordered them out of the country.
"This is one of the first large-scale missions we've done like this ever," ICE director Todd Lyons told ABC News.
"We brought a 'whole the government' approach with cooperative jurisdictions that want to help ICE secure communities in neighborhoods and remove public safety threats from our neighborhoods," he added.
"The records do not explain in detail how the federal government chose its targets, but do say that authorities are trying to detain 'criminal individuals or immigration violators' that have final deportation orders," the media sources told the Democrat.
Indeed, many of those arrested have violent criminal records.
One of those busted was Jose Sanchez Reyes, a Colombian immigrant who entered the US illegally after being convicted of homicide in his home nation, according to Fox.
Rafael Juarex Cabrera, a Guatemalan immigrant and alleged MS-13 member, was also caught. He had illegally reentered the US three times, officials said.
Russian immigrant Savva Klishchevskii was also detained for an Interpol Red Notice out of Russia for vehicular manslaughter.
Officials said Honduran Aron Isaak Morazan-Izaguirre was taken in. He is a suspected member of the 18th Street Gang and had illegally re-entered the US twice.
In a statement, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said, "President Trump and I have a clear message to those in our country illegally: LEAVE NOW."
Practically speaking, self-deportation is the best answer. With at least 11 million illegal aliens living in the United States, the enormous amount of resources that would have to be expended to capture and deport even a fraction of them makes self-deportation the most efficient and economical means of addressing the problem.
"Florida is leading the nation in active cooperation with the Trump administration for immigration enforcement and deportation operations!" Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wrote on X.
Non-cooperation with federal law enforcement by state and local police authorities is a choice. Even if they are "sanctuary cities" and states, the law still allows for cooperation with federal authorities to enforce immigration law.
Big cities and blue states refuse to cooperate. Part of the reason is political in that their sizeable Hispanic voting blocs are sensitive to enforcing immigration laws. But the big city mayors are also under pressure from national Democrats not to cooperate with Donald Trump.
When law enforcement at every level works together, it's amazing what can be accomplished.
Nearly 230 Florida law enforcement agencies, including sheriff's offices, city police departments and college and university campus police,e have signed 287(g) agreements, the most out of any state in the nation, the Herald/Times said.
More than 130 of the currently active agreements are under the task force model, which allows law enforcement agencies to enforce limited immigration authority with ICE oversight, including questioning, arresting, and detaining people suspected of violating federal immigration laws.
State and local law enforcement partners have also been enlisted to help with federal immigration enforcement through the 287(g) program, an ICE initiative that allows local law enforcement agencies to help "identify and remove criminal aliens who are amenable to removal from the U.S.," according to ICE.
We can expect to see more of these joint operations in the near future. All that's necessary is a willingness to work together to address the problem.
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