A secret directive from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) distributed among hundreds of police agencies in Florida and Texas is raising alarm among civil rights advocates, lawyers, and journalists by restricting public access to information regarding immigration operations and arrests related to the federal 287(g) program.
The document, revealed by journalist Monique O. Madan in collaboration with The Florida Trib and the investigative newsletter Two Can Be True, was emailed between April 19 and May 5 to police departments and sheriff's offices that collaborate with ICE.
The measure represents a direct clash with one of Florida's most entrenched legal traditions: the so-called Sunshine Law, which since 1909 assumes government records are public unless there are specific exceptions.
What does the new ICE directive establish?
The memorandum indicates that all “information obtained or developed” under the 287(g) program —including arrests, reports, and documents created by local police— remains “under the control of ICE” and cannot be disclosed without prior federal authorization.
The instruction also directs to immediately consult with the ICE FOIA office before responding to public access requests, press interviews, statements, social media posts, or media briefings.
"If your agency receives FOIA requests, Sunshine Law, or other similar inquiries... you must immediately consult with the ICE FOIA office or your local Field Office Director," the document states.
ICE rejected multiple requests for comments and has yet to publicly announce the directive.
Several departments in South Florida confirmed receiving the memo, although they initially refused to provide a copy of the document itself while awaiting federal authorization.
Why is this measure so concerning?
The main fear is that local agencies will start systematically denying or delaying information regarding immigration arrests, collaboration with ICE, and police operations.
In practice, experts warn that this could prevent an understanding of how many people are detained, under what circumstances, what crimes are charged—if any charges exist—and how the procedures unfold.
John Sandweg, former acting director of ICE, strongly criticized the measure.
"The public has the right to know who is arrested, how they are arrested, how many people are arrested," he stated. "You cannot deprive the public of that opportunity to form their own judgment by hiding information or restricting access to data."
Sandweg described the policy as “unusual” and stated that he found “no operational reason” to justify keeping those records secret.
The clash with Florida's Sunshine Law
Florida has one of the strongest transparency laws in the United States. The Sunshine Law requires public agencies to provide official records unless there is a specific legal exception.
In 1990, voters also reinforced that principle through a constitutional amendment.
For this reason, legal experts consider it questionable that a federal directive could nullify state obligations regarding access to public information.
Adam Marshall, national litigation director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, was adamant:
"The general rule is that state entities cannot contract to evade their obligations under state laws regarding public records."
He added that if a local agency refuses to provide documents solely because ICE ordered it, it would likely not withstand judicial scrutiny.
Marshall also warned that the legal and economic consequences would fall on local agencies and taxpayers, who could end up paying for litigation due to violations of transparency laws.
Sweetwater and the fear of federal retaliation
One of the most revealing cases occurred in Sweetwater, a municipality in southern Florida, where the city attorney, Ralph Ventura, instructed staff not to publicly discuss matters related to 287(g) without approval from ICE.
"We have coverage... Call me if you have any questions," Ventura wrote in internal communications.
The official cited a state legal provision related to criminal intelligence, although experts point out that this regulation does not apply to most of the immigration records covered by the 287(g) program.
What is the 287(g) program?
The 287(g) program allows certified local police officers to act as federal immigration agents under certain circumstances.
Florida has become one of the main strongholds of that collaboration. According to figures cited in the research, the state holds 345 active agreements with ICE, surpassed only by Texas.
Moreover, Florida is currently the only state where all county sheriffs actively collaborate with ICE, driven by the immigration policy promoted by Governor Ron DeSantis since 2025.
In some departments, growth has been explosive. The Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office went from around 100 certified officers to 971 in less than four months.
More arrests and more fear among immigrants
The tightening of immigration measures coincides with a significant increase in arrests in Florida.
The ICE office in Miami currently leads immigration arrests in the United States, averaging about 120 captures daily and more than 41,000 arrests since January 2025.
In parallel, civil rights organizations are denouncing abuses, arrests without due process, and increasing opacity.
Katie Blankenship, immigration lawyer and co-founder of Sanctuary of the South, stated that the lack of transparency allows illegal activities to proliferate.
"This is as unconstitutional as it gets, and the bottleneck of information and lack of transparency only allow these unconstitutional acts to proliferate," he stated.
Blankenship stated that her organization represents detained immigrants “without due process, never charged, and with no documentary trace.”
According to federal data cited in the investigation, at least 29 people have died in ICE custody since October, the highest number recorded in a single fiscal year.
What does this mean for immigrant communities?
For many immigrants, especially those without documentation, the new policy increases fear and a sense of vulnerability.
"It makes me feel more invisible. More vulnerable, as if I could disappear among the cracks and no one would ever know," said "Carla," a South American immigrant from South Florida whose real name has been withheld for safety reasons.
Lawyers and activists say that more and more families are preparing guardianship documents and wills out of fear of sudden arrests or deportations.
The context also includes the expansion of detention centers in Florida, among them the controversial project known as “Alligator Alcatraz”, launched in 2025.
Transparency under pressure
The controversy not only revolves around access to documents but also the cost of obtaining them.
The Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office estimated the cost of a public records request related to the increase in ICE certified agents at $48,394, an amount that effectively blocked access to the information.
For advocates of government transparency, the situation reflects a deliberate strategy to limit public scrutiny.
"The laws of government transparency exist to eliminate officials' discretion over what is public and what is not," concluded Marshall. "Anything that tries to undermine that is outrageous."
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