FLORIDA – It wasn’t too long ago when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was applauding collaborative efforts between state law enforcement and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for conducting “Operation Tidal Wave,” which officials said led to the arrest of over 750 undocumented immigrants.
RELATED: ICE detention site at Camp Blanding to house 2,000 detainees, DeSantis says
Recommended Videos
About two months later, data released by the New York Times shows that Florida is continuing its promise to aggressively enforce President Trump’s immigration policies, with ICE making nearly 10,000 arrests in the state since Trump took office.
In Georgia, data shows that ICE has made over 3,000 arrests in the same period.
Additionally, the Times also reports that the pace of arrests made by ICE has increased in every state compared to 2024, with states like Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, and Virginia all seeing an over-200% increase since Jan 20.
“Most of the arrests have occurred in states with large immigrant populations, including Florida and Texas, which also saw relatively high immigration enforcement under President Biden," the NYT writes. “[ICE’s] Miami field office, which covers Florida and Puerto Rico, has also arrested more than 11,000 people.”
The data, which comes from the Deportation Data Project at the University of California, Berkeley, law school, provides some of the clearest insight into how President Trump’s immigration policies are being enacted across the country.
While states like Florida and Georgia seem to be friendly toward the president’s immigration agenda, California has seen its fair share of clashes between protestors and ICE throughout June.
The clashes have led to Trump and California Governor Gavin Newsom exchanging criticisms of one another on social media and in various interviews.
Furthermore, a closer look at the data suggests that immigration enforcement agents have responded to top Trump advisor Stephen Miller’s demands that ICE arrest 3,000 people a day.
Nationwide, daily arrest totals skyrocketed from around 600 a day to over 1,100 following the meeting held by Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
In Florida, daily arrest totals average out to about 64 arrests per day since Jan. 20, a 219% increase since 2024. In Georgia, the number sits at about 23 arrests per day, a 267% increase from the previous year.
The state with the highest number of arrests since Trump took office is Texas, with ICE agents making over 20,000 arrests and just under 150 per day, a 92% increase from 2024.
Read the full story on NYTimes.com.
