A Venezuelan national convicted of homicide was living in Florida – until Operation Tidal Wave put him in handcuffs.
He was one of 10,400.
And now Florida just wrote four more sheriffs a check to make sure the next 10,400 don't get comfortable either.
Ingoglia Delivers Nearly $1.4 Million to Northwest Florida
Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia traveled to Shalimar on March 12 to personally hand out nearly $1.4 million in state reimbursements to four Panhandle sheriff's offices.
Escambia County leads the haul with $963,307.85.
Santa Rosa County gets $283,849.73.
Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden receives $103,825 – money he says will strengthen "our ability to arrest and detain criminal illegal aliens."
Franklin County pulls in $48,460 to keep deputies working alongside ICE under the 287(g) program.
The funds flow through Florida's State Board of Immigration Enforcement – the board Ingoglia sits on alongside Governor DeSantis, Attorney General James Uthmeier, and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson.
Florida set aside $250 million in last year's state budget specifically for these reimbursements.
This Panhandle stop is the latest leg of Ingoglia's statewide tour – more than $1.7 million to Central Florida sheriffs in January, another $2 million across the Panhandle in February, and now $1.4 million more in March.
https://twitter.com/FLVoiceNews/status/2032932300699148761?s=20
The State Board of Immigration Enforcement has awarded more than $60 million to local law enforcement since September.
What Florida's 287(g) Army Has Actually Done
Florida was the first state to sign a 287(g) agreement, back in 2002 after 9/11.
What's new is the scale.
Since January 20, 2025, Florida's 287(g) partnerships have grown 577 percent – reaching 325 active agreements statewide.
Operation Tidal Wave, launched in April 2025, became the largest joint immigration enforcement operation in ICE history.
The Florida Highway Patrol alone has apprehended more than 9,000 illegal aliens under 287(g) since March 2025, including more than 1,600 with prior criminal records.
Here's what that looks like in practice.
ICE arrested a Venezuelan convicted of homicide.
A Guatemalan convicted of homicide.
A Haitian convicted of kidnapping.
A Peruvian convicted of producing and distributing child pornography.
A Colombian convicted of conspiracy to import cocaine, murder connected to narcotics trafficking, and conspiring to support a foreign terrorist organization.
These are the people Florida law enforcement is being paid to remove from your neighborhood.
DHS called Florida's model "a blueprint nationwide."
Why the Rest of the Country Should Be Watching
Democrats spent four years lecturing America about comprehensive immigration reform while criminal illegal aliens settled into communities across the country.
Florida did the opposite.
DeSantis locked arms with Trump on Day One, built the most aggressive state-level immigration enforcement infrastructure in American history, and made Florida the first state to receive federal 287(g) reimbursements.
The result: pedophiles, murderers, rapists, and gang members – gone.
Ingoglia put the stakes plainly in Shalimar: "There is no way we can have mass immigration enforcement without cooperation between the federal government, the state government and our local law enforcement partners."
Florida has proved that cooperation works.
Every Democrat governor in America watched Florida pull 10,400 criminal illegal aliens off the streets – and chose to do nothing.
That's not a policy difference.
That's a choice about whose safety matters.
Sources:
- Florida Department of Financial Services, "Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia Awards Nearly $1.4 Million for Immigration Enforcement Support for Florida Law Enforcement Agencies," MyFloridaCFO.com, March 12, 2026.
- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, "ICE Awards Florida's State and Local Law Enforcement with 287(g) Funds to Defend the Homeland," ICE.gov, September 26, 2025.
- Florida Governor's Office, "Governor Ron DeSantis Highlights Success of Florida-Federal Immigration Partnership as Operation Tidal Wave Reaches More Than 10,000 Arrests," FlGov.com, 2026.
- U.S. Department of Homeland Security, "DHS Highlights Worst of the Worst Criminal Illegal Aliens Arrested in Florida Including Murderers, Pedophiles, and Rapists," DHS.gov, June 30, 2025.
- Florida Highway Patrol, "FHP and U.S. Border Patrol Arrests 15 Criminal Illegal Aliens in Targeted Detail," FLHSMV.gov, March 12, 2026.
- CBS12/CW34, "Florida CFO Ingoglia Awards Millions to Panhandle Sheriffs for Immigration Enforcement," CW34.com, February 23, 2026.
