U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem visited Bradenton on Monday to highlight ongoing partnerships between Florida’s local law agencies and federal immigration officers.
Florida, she noted, had the best participation of any state during the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration.
Florida law mandates that all 67 counties cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, specifically through the 287(g) program, which allows local law enforcement to perform immigration enforcement functions under federal supervision.
Nonetheless, she praised Florida for helping to detain individuals who have committed serious crimes.
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“It shows that they recognize the importance of bringing individuals to justice that have convicted crimes against the people that live in their communities,” she said.
Since January, she added, her agency has detained over 480,000 undocumented immigrants across the country, of which 70% now have criminal charges against them or have been convicted.
At the same time, data from the nonpartisan Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse show that roughly 70% of undocumented detainees have no criminal convictions in the U.S. The difference reflects the gap between ICE’s targeted enforcement and the broader detention population.
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While displaying firearms and drugs she said were seized during enforcement operations, Noem cited recent convictions of undocumented immigrants in Florida, including those charged in a homicide, sexual assault of a child, incest with a minor and domestic violence.
“We are focused on the worst of the worst, bringing these individuals to justice,” she said.
Noem also downplayed reported aggressive tactics used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, including the use of mass arrest operations.
And when asked about immigrants who are afraid to be out of their residences said, “I think they should be in this country legally. They have no fear whatsoever if they're in this country abiding by our laws.”
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She noted the government’s offer to pay $1,000 and buy a plane ticket for undocumented individuals who voluntarily want to return to their homeland.
“Go home to your country and come the right way. If they wait until we detain them and we have to remove them ourselves, they'll never get the chance to come back to America,” she said. “If they've committed a crime against individuals in this country, they will be brought to justice.”
The secretary said there were more than 175,000 applicants for 10,000 ICE agent openings, and many are already at work. Throughout the presser, Noem warned that anti-ICE rhetoric endangers officers’ lives.
Noem also thanked Florida for opening state-run detention facilities Alligator Alcatraz and Deportation Depot, where detainees can be held “until their due process is finished and they can be removed from our country."
She said other states are planning similar centers.
WUSF reporter Nancy Guan contributed to this report.
Note: Noem repeatedly misidentified herself as being in Sarasota where the event originally was planned. However, the press conference was instead at a building near the Manatee County Sheriff’s office in Bradenton.
