Nearly 800 Undocumented Immigrants Arrested Over 4 Days In FL Sweep

FLORIDA — Operation Tidal Wave, a four-day undertaking that netted nearly 800 arrests, targeted undocumented immigrants in Florida.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Saturday said its Miami office worked with Florida authorities to arrest the hundreds of immigrants in a "first-of-its-kind" operation involving both state and federal partners.

Under ICE's 287(g) policy, state and local law enforcement agencies can partner with the federal agency and subsequently arrest undocumented immigrants.

According to ABC News, 780 people were arrested during the raids.

"I think the main reason why this operation is significant is because it's the first of its kind. It's one that not only we've been doing what we have, but we have surged all our federal partners together along with Homeland Security Investigations and Enforcement (and) Removal Operations, which are all the enforcement arms of ICE, but we're also using all our 287(g) partners in the state of Florida. We're using state, local and county law enforcement agencies to assist us in our operations," Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons told ABC News.

"So this is one of the first large-scale missions we've done like this ever. We brought a 'whole government' approach with cooperative jurisdictions that want to help ICE secure communities in neighborhoods and remove public safety threats from our neighborhoods."

The raids have been a culmination of the Trump administration's efforts to massively deport undocumented immigrants in the U.S. and come on the brink of Florida's support for the administration's endeavors.

In February, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation that required the death penalty for immigrants in the U.S. without legal authorization who commit capital offenses such as first degree murder or child rape.

The Florida raids have included the arrests of 32 people in early February in Palm Beach County, including a Venezuelan man who was convicted of drug possession and robbery and a Haitian woman who was convicted of prostitution and battery.

Trump has been sharing video of the ICE raids on his Truth Social account, though it was not immediately clear if the most recent footage occurred in Florida.