Democrat lawmakers visit ICE facilities holding detained students
A group of congressional Democrats were in Louisiana to visit Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities.
FORT MYERS, Fla. − Almost 800 people have been arrested in the first few days of Operation Tidal Wave, a multi-agency immigration enforcement crackdown in Florida, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement authorities announced.
ICE called the effort a “first-of-its-kind partnership” involving state and federal agencies and local law enforcement. The agency, in a statement Saturday, lauded local police agencies for providing “extraordinary support” for the crackdown that began April 21.
“This is a warning to all criminal illegal aliens: We’re coming for you,” Homeland Security Secretary Krisiti Noem wrote in a social media post. “@DHSgov, @ICEgov, and our state partners will hunt you down, arrest and deport you. That’s a promise.”
All 67 Florida county sheriffs already agreed to partner with ICE. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called Operation Tidal Wave an example of the “big results on immigration enforcement an deportations” that federal, state and local agencies can accomplish by working together.
Assistant Secretary of Homeland Security for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said the operation was a “major success” and that more such crackdowns are planned in coming months.
“Almost 800 aliens including MS-13 gang members, including convicted murders, rapists, all these people are now off our streets who have otherwise been acting with impunity and terrorizing U.S. communities,” McLaughlin said on Fox News. “You are going to be seeing this throughout the country.”
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said last month that he planned to investigate Fort Myers City Council after it failed to agree to the partnership, calling the refusal “very troubling” − and illegal.
Naples Congressman Byron Donalds, a Trump-backed gubernatorial hopeful, said City Council members who refused to go along with the ICE agreement should lose their jobs. Gov. Ron DeSantis also weighed-in, writing that “Florida will ensure its laws are followed, and when it comes to immigration − the days of inaction are over. Govern yourselves accordingly.”
Days later, City Council voted again and approved the ICE partnership. “Good Choice,” Uthmeier said in a social media post.