DeSantis says Florida’s Highway Patrol is now allowed to arrest people over immigration status

Gov. Ron DeSantis and the leaders of the Republican-led Legislature haven’t come to a consensus on the immigration bill passed last week. In the meantime, the governor announced on Friday an agreement with the federal government that he said would deputize Florida Highway Patrol troopers, allowing them to interrogate people about their immigration status and arrest people entering the state without legal permission.

The governor has placed highway patrol at the forefront of his “interior enforcement” efforts, characterizing the agreement with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as street-level enforcement. However, FHP troopers won’t immediately exercise their newly announced authority. DeSantis said the troopers would receive training first but didn’t say how long it would take.

“We need to re-establish interior enforcement in this country,” DeSantis said during the press conference in the Capitol. “We have to fulfill the President’s mission to effectuate the largest deportation program in American history. So we’re stepping up.”

At the time of publishing, the governor’s office had not shared a copy of the agreement and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not respond to a request for comment.

Florida’s agreement comes after the announcement of a similar one in Texas earlier this week, which allows the Texas National Guard to make immigration arrests, according to Florida Phoenix publishing partner Texas Tribune.

“It isn’t that we earned the right to be selected by DHS to be at the top of the line for these authorities,” FHP Director Dave Kerner said. “It is because we intentionally fought to be next in line to gain these authorities. It’s because we know that they will help us keep Florida safe.”

DeSantis emphasized his authority to decide state-level cooperation with immigration enforcement while also saying that he and the Legislature are getting close to a conclusion of the dispute over the immigration bill, nicknamed the TRUMP Act. The governor vowed to veto the bill that would strip his immigration enforcement powers and give them to Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson.

“The reality is we can do state-level enforcement,” DeSantis said. “We want legislation to say that we have a duty for both state and local, but I’m gonna do it. And so it makes sense to put it in law, but I’m gonna do it anyways.”

Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Diane Rado for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and Twitter.

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This article appears in Feb 5-11, 2025.