MIAMI 鈥� The year had barely begun when Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida demanded legislation cracking down on illegal immigration 鈥� before President Donald Trump was inaugurated and before any other state could beat him to it.
The Republican governor got his wish. And now, the impact of the state鈥檚 new, aggressive enforcement powers is starting to become clear.
The Trump administration has boasted of making hundreds of immigration arrests in Florida, with the state鈥檚 help. A South Florida detention center has added a plexiglass structure with rows of cots to deal with overcrowding. DeSantis and his handpicked attorney general, James Uthmeier, threatened to remove members of a City Council who initially opposed working with federal officials on immigration enforcement, accusing them of embracing 鈥渟anctuary policies.鈥�
In recent weeks, Uthmeier also seemed to defy a federal judge鈥檚 order on one of the new state laws. The judge, Kathleen M. Williams of U.S. District Court in Miami, temporarily blocked part of one law that makes it a state crime for immigrants to enter Florida without legal permission. Despite the judge鈥檚 order, Uthmeier told police officers that he 鈥渃annot prevent鈥� them from making arrests under the law in question.
Such has been the tumult playing out in Florida since DeSantis signed two sweeping immigration laws in February, saying that he wanted to be on the front lines of helping the Trump administration carry out mass deportations. The measures have entangled every level of state government and unnerved residents who had long considered Florida an immigrant haven.
鈥淚鈥檝e never seen so many people so scared or concerned in 50 years that I鈥檝e been working in Miami,鈥� said Wilfredo O. Allen, an immigration lawyer.
The tension has been most palpable in South Florida, which is heavily Hispanic. The region鈥檚 politicians largely avoid anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies, given that about 54% of Miami-Dade County residents are foreign-born and three-quarters speak a language other than English at home. Of particular concern is the federal government鈥檚 attempt to end deportation protections for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans and Haitians, many of whom live in the region.
But Trump and DeSantis both handily won Miami-Dade County, flipping it red and showing how even in one of the nation鈥檚 most heavily Hispanic regions, sentiment has shifted in favor of stricter immigration enforcement. South Florida鈥檚 Republican members of Congress have done little to push back against the administration鈥檚 crackdown. A new political group began publishing ads against some of them last week.
鈥淒eporting good immigrants back to dictatorships is cruel,鈥� one of the ads says. Pictured in it are Reps. Mario D铆az-Balart, Carlos A. Gim茅nez and Mar铆a Elvira Salazar, as well as Secretary of State Marco Rubio. All are Cuban Americans from Miami.
In a state of 23 million, it has been hard to track who exactly has been targeted by the new policies, and where. The Trump administration has offered scant details on the arrests it has conducted with Florida law enforcement, beyond saying that about 780 people around the state were detained in a major operation last week. Immigration activists worry that those arrested include people with no criminal records.
Trump and DeSantis have talked about deporting criminals. But 鈥渢he rhetoric is a mismatch of what is actually happening on the ground,鈥� said Paul R. Ch谩vez, the litigation director for Americans for Immigrant Justice, a legal aid group based in Miami.
Allen said one of his clients was a truck driver who was detained by immigration authorities after dumping junk at a public facility without a permit.
City after city in South Florida 鈥� including Hialeah, which is heavily Cuban; Doral, which is heavily Venezuelan; and Homestead, which has a significant farmworker community 鈥� have entered into formal agreements known as 287(g) to help federal authorities with immigration enforcement. Only one city, South Miami, has gone to court to argue that such formal cooperation is not required under the new state laws.
鈥淎t this point, it feels like the governor and state attorney general are trying to intimidate people so they can tell the world that every municipality in Florida has signed on to help,鈥� Mayor Javier E. Fern谩ndez of South Miami, a Democrat whose office is nonpartisan, said in an interview.
In February, DeSantis announced that all 67 county sheriff鈥檚 offices had adopted 287(g) agreements, making Florida the first state in the country to have such wide buy-in.
鈥淭his is a task force model, which will lead to street-level enforcement operations,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is the maximum participation that a local entity can have.鈥�
Chief Edward James Hudak Jr. of the Coral Gables Police Department, which signed a 287(g) agreement, said police departments were used to cooperating with their federal partners. His officers will not be checking the immigration status of crime victims, witnesses or anyone who has not been charged with a crime, he said.
鈥淢y department is going to look at it as, this is just an additional tool,鈥� said Hudak, who also serves as the legislative chair for the Florida Police Chiefs Association. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want someone to not call us or not say something if they鈥檙e in fear for their status.鈥�
Lawyers and organizations that defend immigrants鈥� rights say that such arrangements have tended to lead to racial profiling.
But the politics in Florida have moved steadily toward stricter immigration enforcement, starting during the first Trump administration. DeSantis banned so-called sanctuary cities in 2019, the year he took office 鈥� and noted this year that he had done so before the White House. His stance represents a sea change from when Gov. Jeb Bush, a fellow Republican who led the state two decades ago, espoused relatively liberal positions on immigration.
Even Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican who was an immigration hard-liner, later allowed certain immigrants brought into the country illegally as children to receive in-state tuition rates at public universities 鈥� a policy that the new legislation reversed.
Under other provisions of the two laws signed in February, immigrants in the country without legal permission who are convicted of a capital offense are supposed to receive the death penalty. And nearly $300 million will be allocated to help local agencies assist with federal immigration enforcement, overseen by a new State Board of Immigration Enforcement.
鈥淔lorida has been, I think, one of the laboratories for experimentation, with harsh anti-immigrant measures for years now,鈥� said Cody Wofsy, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union in San Francisco who is part of the team challenging Florida鈥檚 illegal entry law, saying it encroaches on federal duties.
In a hearing in that case Tuesday, Williams upbraided the lawyers representing Uthmeier for 鈥渋nviting police officers鈥� to continue making arrests even after she issued her order.
鈥淲hat I am offended by, and what I do find problematic, is someone suggesting, 鈥榊ou don鈥檛 have to follow that order, it鈥檚 not legitimate,鈥欌�� she said.
Uthmeier initially wrote to local law enforcement agencies that while he disagreed with the judge鈥檚 order, sheriff鈥檚 deputies and police officers should hold off on making further arrests while the case moved through the courts. He then followed up with a letter that said he could not 鈥減revent鈥� such arrests from taking place.
On Tuesday, his lawyers argued that the letter laid out Uthmeier鈥檚 legal position. 鈥淲e just don鈥檛 read it as inviting violations鈥� to the judge鈥檚 order, Jeffrey Paul DeSousa, the acting solicitor general in Florida, said in court.
The judge forcefully disagreed and asked Uthmeier鈥檚 lawyers to provide some kind of redress for his second letter. His lawyers asked for more time to 鈥渉ave further conversations with our front office,鈥� suggesting that the attorney general was unlikely to back down.
This article originally appeared in . 漏 2025 The New York Times
