At a press briefing about Operation Tidal Wave, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) touted efforts to crack down on illegal immigration.
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00:00Well, thank you. Four years ago, we had seen something that we had never seen in American history.
00:07We had a president, Joe Biden, that opened the border and basically declared that people could come illegally.
00:14Interior enforcement was rendered basically null and void, and this was impacting not just the southern border and region of Texas or Arizona,
00:23but communities all across the country, including in the state of Florida.
00:26And so four years ago, we were sending people to the southern border to help supplement state efforts to try to mitigate the damage.
00:36And our Operation Lone Star saw more than 1,000 national state guardsmen, state law enforcement officers go to Texas to assist the state of Texas in stopping this border invasion.
00:48We also, being a maritime state, we are vulnerable to having illegal boats coming and bringing illegal aliens onto our shores.
00:58This was particularly pressing when you had issues in Haiti bubble up even more,
01:04and there was a lot of issues that people thought was going to lead to a mass migration into the state of Florida.
01:10We launched Operation Vigilant Sentry.
01:13We deployed more than 250 officers and soldiers from Florida Division of Emergency Management, State Guard,
01:19and other state law enforcement agencies to patrol Florida's southern coast.
01:23That was supplementing what the Coast Guard is already doing, but because of our efforts,
01:28we were able to bring about more than 17,000 repatriations and almost 500 vessels removed since that time at the end of 2022.
01:39And we worked together with the Coast Guard on that, but that was been a huge, huge positive for us.
01:44Of course, our state efforts didn't end there.
01:47We were involved in illegal alien transport, similar to what Texas was doing,
01:52so that sanctuary jurisdictions were having to deal with the issues that the open border was bringing to other communities.
01:59And we were really on the front lines of that all four years of the Biden administration.
02:05Enter the 2024 election and the election of President Trump again.
02:09Border security and immigration enforcement was perhaps the signature issue of the president's first campaign in 2016,
02:18and this one where he got re-elected.
02:21So we saw an opportunity to have a much different relationship with the federal government as it relates to immigration enforcement.
02:28So immediately, I instructed our state agencies to engage in what are called 287G agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement,
02:39which basically leads to our state agencies being able to exercise authority in the immigration sphere
02:46to supplement and cooperate with the federal government.
02:50And we know that ICE had a rough run under Biden for four years.
02:54A lot of the things, this 287G program was effectively dormant.
02:58Certainly, the task force model was dormant.
03:02So we did that.
03:03So you had Highway Patrol, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Fish and Wildlife, all those agencies signing agreements.
03:09And I think you now have, I read a blurb, that you have like 500 agencies, law enforcement agencies across the country
03:16that now have these agreements with ICE, and about half of those are in Florida, state and local, which we're really, really proud of.
03:24We're also, though, not just stopping with law enforcement.
03:27We've also done 287G agreements with regulatory agencies in Florida.
03:32Our Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Alcohol, Beverage and Tobacco,
03:37the Florida Gaming Control Commission, and the Florida Lottery all operate in what we would consider target-rich environments.
03:45During their routine inspection and investigative duties, special agents are oftentimes in contact with people who may be in our country illegally.
03:54So we think deputizing those officers in regulatory spaces is going to be another source to lead to these immigration enforcement efforts.
04:03Now, when President Trump was preparing to take office, I called the special session of the Florida Legislature
04:08because I knew that we needed policy in Florida that would require all state and local agencies, law enforcement, to participate in these efforts.
04:18We're not a sanctuary state.
04:20We banned sanctuary cities, but that just means you can sit on your hands.
04:24Yeah, you can't sabotage the efforts, but you were under no obligation to be on the team.
04:29We had to battle some of the folks in the House of Representatives in Florida, but we were able to get that done.
04:35And so now, all 67 counties have 287G agreements with their sheriff's departments,
04:41and we're adding more and more police departments each and every day.
04:45So Florida's really led the effort there.
04:47Some of these agencies would have wanted to be a part of the fight.
04:50Others would have rather not have been part of the fight.
04:53But because of our legislation, they are all, in fact, a part of the fight.
04:58And this is something that's been really, really good.
05:00And there's been a lot of great enforcement efforts leading up to Operation Tidal Wave,
05:04but this has been the first of its kind throughout the United States.
05:09This is the largest immigration enforcement operation that we've seen in quite some time throughout the entire country.
05:16Florida state agencies assisted federal authorities to arrest over 1,100 illegal aliens across the state.
05:25That is a really significant impact, and we're demonstrating why we're going to continue to lead on this issue.
05:32And you see some of the people that were arrested there.
05:36These are people that should have never been in our country.
05:39Some of these people had been previously deported.
05:40Some of these people had been alerted in the Biden administration, but this is something they didn't want to have to do with it.
05:48So our folks have worked hand in hand with DHS to really, really make a difference for the people of Florida
05:54and for the people of the United States of America.
05:57Because I think when you're dealing with people, millions and millions of people here illegally,
06:02you see some of these folks who have huge, huge problems in their background, with their conduct,
06:08and really put our communities at risk.
06:10It's important that the law is enforced.
06:13It's important that those people are taken care of.
06:14But what it also does is sends the message going forward,
06:18the United States of America is serious about enforcing its immigration laws.
06:22So whereas under the previous president, you could pay coyotes and come to the border
06:27knowing that you'd be home free once you got there, there's a new sheriff in town.
06:32That is not going to be permitted.
06:34And I think that's one of the reasons why you've had the largest drop in border crossings
06:39in American history during President Trump's first 100 days.
06:43And so this has been night and day in terms of our state efforts working with the Trump administration.
06:49I think it's going very, very well.
06:51That was not necessarily the case under the previous administration.
06:55What I'd also say is this.
06:57We have the best emergency response team in the country.
07:01Our state agencies are very versatile.
07:03We have both a National Guard and a State Guard who are used to responding to different types of contingencies.
07:10We're ready, willing, and able to take it to the next level.
07:13We have submitted plans to DHS to say, you know, if this is approved,
07:18we will go off to the races, and we will be able to do really from soup to nuts,
07:23from apprehension to detention, even putting some of our people in the National Guard in line to be,
07:31serve as immigration judges to process this.
07:34We can do it.
07:34And I'd also say, you hear a lot about due process.
07:37We have tens of thousands of illegal aliens in Florida, at a minimum,
07:43that have already been issued final orders of removal.
07:47And there's hundreds of thousands of them throughout the United States of America.
07:51So they've had a lot of process.
07:54They've been ordered to be removed.
07:55They have not complied with those removal orders.
07:58And that's a very, very high priority for our state efforts to continue to identify those individuals
08:04and make sure that they're returned to their country of origin.
08:07So I want to thank the federal agencies that have really led the way.
08:11It's been a welcome change here in the state of Florida.
08:14And also thank all of our state and local partners who worked really, really hard for this operation
08:19but have been doing this now for many months.
08:22And we're proud to have been the first state out of the gate, but we view this as just the beginning.
08:27We think that the best is still yet to come.
08:30So thanks for everyone that's been involved.