Florida immigrant communities react to ‘Operation Tidal Wave’

On Good Friday, Jill Hanson went to St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Jupiter to see one of her community members play Jesus Christ in the church’s passion play.

Four days later, he was detained by Florida Highway Patrol in what the state of Florida is calling “Operation Tidal Wave,” a week-long sting by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Florida law enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security that targeted areas with high-immigrant populations.

“Just makes me so angry, you can’t even believe it,” said Hanson who runs El Sol, a Jupiter nonprofit that supports immigrant communities in Jupiter.

Hanson said she knew five people from Jupiter who were detained last week. According to records reviewed by the Miami Herald, authorities aimed to detain 800 people in Miami-Dade and Broward counties and the cities of Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Stuart, Tallahassee and Fort Myers.

“No warrant, no criminal record and they are not members of El Tren de Aragua,” Hanson said, who argues the raids don’t make the community a safer place. “I know people are going to be afraid to go to the police if they are victims or witnesses of a crime.”

The operation is another collaboration between Florida’s law enforcement and federal immigration agencies. Since President Donald Trump took office and mandated mass deportation of undocumented immigrants across the country, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislature have been first in line to comply with multiple executive orders and rule changes that have thrown immigrants, even those without criminal records or orders of removal, into the deportation process.

In its first four days, ICE said the operation led to over 780 arrests of undocumented immigrants. The agency touted the sting on X as the “first-of-its-kind partnership between state and federal partners,” and that it represented “a massive, multi-agency, immigration enforcement crackdown.”

“Florida is leading the nation in active cooperation with the Trump administration for immigration enforcement and deportation operations!” DeSantis wrote on X.

Immigrants and community advocates say the reactions to Operation Tidal Wave span from anger to fear and even despair. Some say their neighbors have “lost hope,” and others question the validity and transparency of the ICE operation.

According to the Times/Herald, “Operation Tidal Wave” started on April 21, and ran through Saturday, April 26. Hanson, however, said the community believes the arrests are still happening days later.

And immigration experts say the Trump administration’s numbers of deportations don’t add up. U.S. border czar Tom Homan says the administration has deported 139,000 people since the inauguration.

“Unless they deported 30,000-plus people to Canada, I’m not seeing it,” Adam Isacson, director of defense oversight at the left-leaning Washington Office on Latin America, told USA TODAY. There is no indication that many people have been removed to Canada.

The sheriff’s offices in Leon County, where Tallahassee is located, and Lee County, where Fort Myers is, declined to provide numbers for the arrests made during the five-day sting.

The USA TODAY Network – Florida on April 25 and April 29 asked ICE for detailed numbers and information on the arrests made between April 21 and April 26 as part of the sting, but those requests are still pending.

When asked where the 780-plus detainees were being held, a spokesperson for ICE said he did not know, and that bed space was an issue. Still, Florida’s leaders are calling the immigration sting a “success.”

“Together, we can keep this country safe,” said the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, the agency that oversees the Florida Highway Patrol, in a post on X on Tuesday, April 29.

‘Hard workers, not criminals’

Tallahassee, Jacksonville and Orlando are all located in counties that swing Democratic and went to Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

In Fort Myers, city commissioners in March decided not to approve a 287(g) agreement between the city and ICE. A 287(g) is an ICE initiative that allows local law enforcement agencies to help “identify and remove criminal aliens who are amenable to removal from the U.S.,” according to ICE.

More: After immigration training vote fails, Florida attorney general is investigating. What we know

Nearly a week later, the city reversed its stance after Attorney General James Uthmeier warned the city council that sanctuary policies are “not tolerated or lawful in Florida.”

“Your vote last night makes you a sanctuary city. Fix this problem or face the consequences,” he posted on X.

Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, condemned “Operation Tidal Wave,” calling ICE “Trump’s deportation force.”

“Free countries don’t strip people of their constitutional right to due process. They don’t detain or deport lawful citizens and they don’t arrest judges for following the law,” Smith told the USA TODAY Network – Florida in a text message.

“It makes us less safe, it breaks trust between our communities and law enforcement, and it will have major economic consequences.”

In Palm Beach County, immigration advocates say the sting has frightened immigrant families that are scared of driving to work, going to the hospital and taking their children to school.

Videos posted to Facebook show Florida Highway Patrol deputies stopping landscaping trucks along Donald Ross near Interstate 95 and Toney Penna Drive and Alternate A1A.

Hanson said several community members that work in landscaping have called her and allege their trucks are being pulled over for no apparent reason and FHP deputies proceed to question everyone in the vehicle for their immigration status and detaining those that are undocumented – even those without a criminal record.

The Guatemalan man on the cross on Good Friday had been an active member of his Catholic church in Jupiter for years and will likely be deported by Thursday. Hanson also knows of a Guatemalan woman who worked as a house cleaner and was also detained this weekend. She is now awaiting deportation at the Krome North Service Processing Center in Miami-Dade County.

“They’re not criminals, they’re hard workers,” Hanson said.

In the rural towns outside of Tallahassee, the state capital, residents saw a noticeable uptick in law enforcement on April 23 and 24, so much so that Latino events were canceled and businesses closed the following Friday out of fear.

Aracely Cruz, 28, said videos of people being detained outside of their homes and on the side of the road during traffic stops were shared among the Latino community to warn each other about the operation.

One video was “really hard to see,” she said. The Gadsden County resident said a friend posted a video of a neighbor who was apprehended by ICE.

“They kind of tackled him to the side of his house,” she said.

Even people with U.S. citizenship are scared, she said: “I hear a lot of stories of just children not even being able to focus in school because of the fear that, will they see mom and dad when they come home?”

Cruz has been trying to organize meetings and hold protests, calling on the area’s churches and elected officials to “push back.” But many have been silent.

“I would say my community is just in shock,” she said.

Ana Goñi-Lessan, state watchdog reporter for the USA TODAY Network – Florida, can be reached at agonilessan@gannett.com. Valentina Palm covers Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Greenacres, Palm Springs and other western communities in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. Email her atvpalm@pbpost.com. Tomas Rodriguez is a Breaking/Live News Reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. You can reach Tomas at TRodriguez@gannett.com or 772-333-5501.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: ICE raids spark fear in Florida towns, immigrant communities