In the first months after the Florida Department of Law Enforcement set up a tip line for people to report agencies for not complying with the state’s immigration laws, only a trickle of responses flowed in — and many of them focused less on police than on the people next door.
The “Law Enforcement Accountability Dashboard” asks tipsters to identify non-compliant law enforcement agencies, but records obtained by Suncoast Searchlight show many submissions hinge on allegations about neighbors and community members suspected of being undocumented. Often embedded in those complaints are accusations that local agencies are not doing enough about it.
One informant complained about his son’s bus driver being “foreign.” Three tipsters seemingly focused on individuals with whom they had personal quarrels. Two others complained of loud parties.
“These Haitian residents throw extremely loud parties 2 to 3 nights per week,” wrote a Lake Worth Beach resident. “The primary resident may be here legally, but we feel their party goers may not be.”
The tool was created in March alongside a raft of immigration enforcement policies that Gov. Ron DeSantis rolled out in 2025 to support President Donald Trump’s federal immigration crackdown. In a press release at the time, then-State Board of Immigration Enforcement Executive Director Larry Keefe said it was intended to “provide a direct channel for officers and employees to report any failure by their agency to comply with Florida’s immigration enforcement policies” — though the portal also welcomes tips from the public.
Florida’s new statute largely focuses on law enforcement’s role in sharing information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and complying with ICE “detainers” in jails, which extend custody for up to 48 hours beyond a person’s scheduled release date.
But most of the 17 tips point to local police departments or sheriff’s offices that allegedly had not done enough to proactively crack down on undocumented immigrants in their area, or had not responded adequately to their complaints about immigrants in their communities. Many reflected the language the Trump administration has invoked to justify its sweeping effort to facilitate mass deportations — like the idea that undocumented immigrants live above the law while citizens struggle.
Not all submissions included identifying information so it could not be determined if any were from Sarasota, Manatee or DeSoto counties.
Lauren Bonds, executive director of the National Police Accountability Project, said she had not heard of any other state to create such a tip line — it’s more common for law enforcement oversight agencies to seek information from the public about abuses and misconduct.
“Texas, which would be the closest comparator in terms of politics and laws … doesn’t even have this,” said Bonds. “This is probably going to be something that we’ll see more frequently — certain groups complaining about local law enforcement officers not taking a proactive enough role in immigration enforcement.”
Suncoast Searchlight reached out to all of the tipsters who listed contact information in their submission. Those who agreed to speak on the record expressed a mix of feelings about the government’s crackdown on immigration and their own roles in it — including, in one case, a shifting unease with recent tactics by ICE.
“I don’t even recognize my own country at this point, I don’t at all. Like this nurse who was killed. We have eyes — that was an execution,” said West Palm Beach resident Catherine Cominio, who told Suncoast Searchlight her feelings about immigration — and ICE, in particular — had evolved since she submitted a tip alleging a local landlord was renting to undocumented immigrants.
“When we think of ICE, we think of border control, but this is like Nazi Germany,” Cominio said, adding that she has talked with neighbors about what to do if ICE ramps up its crackdown in her area.
Eddie DelValle, an Orlando resident who alleged in a report that his neighbors were undocumented, told Suncoast Searchlight he believes his area is “infiltrated with undocumented people” and insisted that local agencies have not gone far enough in assisting ICE.
FDLE did not return a request for comment or answer questions about whether the office had opened any investigations into tips submitted. One respondent told Suncoast Searchlight the agency contacted them after they submitted tips; two others said they had heard nothing.
‘A climate of suspicion’
Records show how the tip line has apparently been used to air personal grievances, family disputes and suspicions about people's legal statuses.
In one lengthy submission, a respondent — who did not list an address or contact information — claimed their wife had cheated, maintaining a secret marriage and violating U.S. laws banning the practice of bigamy.
The person alleged the wife had wrongfully sought to gain lawful status in the country under the Violence Against Women Act, and urged the state of Florida to “take immediate action” to stop her from “obtaining immigration benefits through fraud, and to consider removal or deportation procedures for her.”
One tipster wrote that he suspected his son’s school bus driver was undocumented and said he had requested from the school district “an american (sic)” instead. “I tried to be tactful and insist that the driver speak english (sic),” the Orange County parent wrote. “They outright refused.”
A Fort Pierce resident wrote of “large parties (200-500) persons in a cattle pasture,” that “have very loud music (all in Spanish).”
“It's not surprising,” said Fraser Ottanelli, a historian at the University of South Florida whose work has focused on labor and immigration, about the nature of the responses to the tip line. “It’s tragic, but it's what these kinds of policies generate. They bring out the worst in us.”
He warned that the tip line’s existence alone creates a “climate of suspicion.”
“The notion, of course, that people are afraid that their neighbors will turn on them is chilling,” Ottanelli said. “It’s chilling, particularly for those who are vulnerable, not because of anything they've done, but just maybe because of the way they look, because of how they speak and [even] the music they listen to.”
FDLE is not the only Florida agency to have opened a tip line in recent months.
The Florida Office of the Attorney General created one in September called the “Combat Violent Extremism Portal,” which “allows the public to submit screenshots, videos, and other evidence of threats of violent extremism directly” to the state.
Created in the wake of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s assassination, that tip line has so far more than 6,470 pages of responses and five minutes of recordings, according to Attorney General Uthmeier’s office.
Suncoast Searchlight requested those submissions, as well, but Uthmeier’s office charged a fee of $7,281.08 to obtain them. FDLE, by contrast, charged nothing.
Uthmeier’s office said in a September press release that the tip line “reflects Florida’s commitment to proactive prevention” and strengthens the state’s “ability to identify credible threats, disrupt plots before violence occurs, and ensure accountability for those who attempt to endanger lives or undermine public safety.”
Ottanelli had a different take, calling such tip lines “just the expression of an authoritarian government.”
This story was produced by Suncoast Searchlight, a nonprofit newsroom of the Community News Collaborative serving Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties. Learn more at suncoastsearchlight.org.
Suncoast Searchlight says it does not use generative AI in its stories. If you have questions about their policies or content, contact Executive Editor-In-Chief Emily Le Coz at emily@suncoastsearchlight.org
