Biden handed cartels 400 unaccompanied children and called it immigration policy.
Now Florida just posted a number that makes every blue-state governor in America pray you don't share this article.
What DeSantis announced Friday proves the left lied when they said this couldn't be done – and he's handing every Republican governor the blueprint to do it themselves.
Florida Highway Patrol Alone Outperformed Every Blue State in America
The Florida Highway Patrol accounted for more than 10,400 of those 25,000 arrests on its own.
Troopers on Florida's highways – the same troopers who pull you over for speeding – processed more illegal aliens than most states have even attempted.
They got there through the 287(g) program, the federal authority that lets state and local officers enforce immigration law alongside ICE.
https://twitter.com/FLVoiceNews/status/2060405849193898387?s=20
DeSantis didn't wait for Washington.
He mandated every law enforcement agency in Florida enter into a 287(g) agreement with DHS – every sheriff's office, every state agency, all 67 counties.
ICE called the result the largest joint immigration enforcement operation in the agency's history.
DeSantis Went After the Worst of the Worst First
This wasn't random enforcement.
Operation Sandhill Sentinel 9.0 targeted repeat immigration violators with criminal records – 250 arrests.
Operation Criminal Return focused on sex offenders and career criminals – 230 arrests.
Operation Locate tracked down over 400 unaccompanied migrant children Biden's open border dumped into Florida – and dismantled trafficking networks in the process.
DeSantis said 63% of arrests across the entire operation involved people with prior criminal records, including violent offenders and sex offenders.
https://twitter.com/OwenGregorian/status/2060694854192005323?s=20
The other 37% had committed the offense of entering the country illegally.
"Although you don't have to have committed a crime to be subject to immigration enforcement if you've come illegally, that is the offense," DeSantis said.
Democrats called it political theater.
Meanwhile, Florida troopers were pulling human traffickers off the highway.
This Is the Blueprint Every Republican Governor Needs to Copy Today
The 287(g) program has existed since 1996.
Florida first used it in 2002, after 9/11 exposed how many terrorism investigations in the state involved foreign nationals living here illegally.
Obama killed its most effective model in 2012.
Trump revived it on day one of his second term.
Florida was already ahead of him – more than half of all 287(g) agreements between local law enforcement and the federal government are in one state, and DeSantis told the country which one.
https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/2061465500996055155?s=20
When Operation Tidal Wave launched its first week, ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheehan stood next to DeSantis and declared it "the single most arrests done by a state in a single week" in the agency's history.
She then said the model would go to other states.
Florida has also built the detention infrastructure to back it up.
Alligator Alcatraz in the Everglades is already running.
DeSantis is waiting on federal approval for a second facility near Pensacola called Panhandle Pokey.
Every Republican governor watching from the sidelines needs to answer one question: why isn't your state doing this?
Sources:
- Sophie Pendrill, "Florida logs 25k undocumented immigrant arrests; FHP tops 10,400 alone," CBS12, May 29, 2026.
- "Governor Ron DeSantis Announces Results of Major Immigration Enforcement Operations Across Florida," Executive Office of the Governor, May 29, 2026.
- "Governor Ron DeSantis Highlights Success of Florida-Federal Immigration Partnership as Operation Tidal Wave Reaches More Than 10,000 Arrests," Executive Office of the Governor, January 5, 2026.
- Anders Hagstrom, "DeSantis announces Florida arrested 10,400 illegal immigrants in 'Operation Tidal Wave,'" Fox News, January 5, 2026.
- Bethany Blankley, "Florida law enforcement leading with ICE 287(g) partnerships," The Center Square, February 11, 2026.
- "Delegation of Immigration Authority Section 287(g) Immigration and Nationality Act," U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ice.gov.
