Immigration Policy

Gov. Ron DeSantis has said the state is waiting for federal officials to ramp up deportations from the Everglades facility before building out the second site outside of Jacksonville.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said the state’s housing capacity for the immigration effort is “a drop in the bucket."

A lawsuit filed in federal court for the District of Columbia against the agency and ICE says the arrests of thousands of people at court have stripped them of rights afforded to them under immigration law and the Constitution.

The men were arrested in late May in northeast Florida’s St. Johns County.

U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar is teaming up with Texas Democratic Congresswoman Veronica Escobar to introduce a "revolutionary immigration reform bill" that would further secure the border and allow undocumented immigrants in the country prior to 2021 to become legal U.S. residents.

The federal government certified the agency to enforce immigration laws under the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's 287(g) program. The key difference between the FDLE's agreement and other participating municipalities, is that the agency has jurisdiction across the state.

Florida law enforcement agencies' cooperation with federal immigration officials is causing concerns among family members and immigrants' rights advocates that people will disappear into county jail systems.

Tuesday’s friend-of-the-court brief, led by Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird’s office, disputed that federal immigration laws preempt — essentially take precedence over — measures such as the Florida law. The brief also pointed to Republican-led states trying to help enforce President Donald Trump’s policies.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is directing the state to build an immigrant detention center on so-called "Alligator Alcatraz" — a partially-built airstrip in the Everglades.

The organizers said they will deliver a letter signed by over 12,000 "faith leaders and people of faith from across the country" in asking sheriffs to "stop enabling Trump's deportation agenda." The association's annual conference takes place this week at the Broward Convention Center in Fort Lauderdale.

The Florida Attorney General is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the state to enforce a new immigration law while lower courts decide whether the law is constitutional.

President Donald Trump's new ban on travel to the United States by citizens from 12 mainly African and Middle Eastern countries is now in effect. The ban took effect on Monday and comes as tensions escalate over the president's campaign of immigration enforcement.