In his latest "State of the State" address before the Florida Congress, Governor Ron DeSantis once again placed immigration at the heart of his political legacy this Tuesday.
DeSantis stated that 20,000 undocumented migrants have been arrested in Florida in the past nine months.
The figure was presented as a demonstration of her administration's leadership in implementing aggressive immigration policies, in line with the current presidency of Donald Trump's agenda of mass deportations.
"Florida is the only state in the country that requires state and local cooperation with federal (immigration) authorities. In just the past nine months, Florida has been responsible for the apprehension of nearly 20,000 illegal immigrants handed over to the Department of Homeland Security," DeSantis emphasized before state lawmakers.
A legacy marked by migratory repression
The Republican governor, who will leave office in January 2027 after completing two terms, has made immigration one of the cornerstones of his administration.
During his intervention, he advocated for measures such as the prohibition of so-called "sanctuary cities" and the mandatory implementation of the 287(g) agreements, which allow local law enforcement to collaborate directly with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
These actions have positioned Florida as the second state in the country with the highest number of immigrant arrests, only behind Texas.
Through programs like "Operation Tide" - a joint initiative between state agencies and ICE - more than 10,400 arrests were made in 2025.
This figure is increased by another 9,600 through 287(g) agreements, according to state data confirmed by media outlets such as NBC and Miami Herald.
“Our people are safer thanks to these measures”, DeSantis stated, without providing data that directly links these arrests to improvements in public safety.
Who are the detainees?
While the official discourse presents the figure of 20,000 detainees as an achievement in security, detailed data disclosed by NBC reveal important nuances:
More than 4,800 detained individuals had only immigration violation records, without having committed any common or violent crimes.
A quarter of those arrested had a criminal record.
The rest faced pending charges, mostly for non-violent offenses such as driving without a valid license.
These figures, corroborated by the Deportation Data Project of the University of California and the Miami Herald, challenge the state government's narrative regarding the danger posed by detained migrants.
Controversial detention centers
Florida has also faced criticism for the opening, in 2025, of detention centers with offensive and stigmatizing names such as "Alligator Alcatraz" (west of Miami) and "Deportation Deport" (in the northern part of the state).
Various civil rights organizations have reported that these centers not only intensify the criminalization of migrants but also turn immigration policy into a kind of spectacle.
Far from softening his approach, DeSantis announced that the state Congress is considering a series of new measures that would further tighten the lives of undocumented immigrants in Florida.
The proposals include:
-Fines for employers who hire immigrants without verifying their immigration status.
-Criminal charges for those who employ more than 50 undocumented workers.
-Prohibitions on undocumented migrants accessing loans or sending remittances.
-The creation of a "presumption of guilt" for undocumented immigrants involved in traffic accidents, an initiative that has been labeled openly discriminatory.
Florida, the epicenter of the repressive migration model
Since Donald Trump's arrival at the White House in January 2025, Florida has been used as an experimental model for intensive migration control, with 325 agreements signed with ICE up until last September.
The figure represents a 577% increase since Trump took office for his second term.
This scenario, according to human rights organizations, sets a troubling precedent for national immigration policy, in a context where the criminalization of migrants has become political capital for conservative leaders.
In his attempt to reinforce the idea that migration repression improves public safety, DeSantis repeated a narrative he had used in 2024: the alleged confession of a thief who claimed to prefer stealing in New York and spending in Florida because in the latter state, "they put you in jail."
However, security experts consulted by CNN pointed out that this is an anecdotal case, with no empirical evidence supporting that high levels of immigration arrests are related to a decrease in crime.
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