President Donald Trump’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) carried out a first-of-its-kind sting operation across Florida by enlisting local police departments to help swiftly arrest and deport gang members and criminal illegal aliens.
Exclusive footage taken by Breitbart News gives an inside look at Operation Tidal Wave — the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) largest single-week operation from April 21 through April 26 in the agency’s history — which utilized the 287(g) program to have local police in Florida help locate and detain illegal aliens.
Since Trump took office, more than 450 new sheriff’s offices and police departments across the U.S. have signed up to work with ICE agents through the 287(g) program.
“Today, we have aliens that have been ordered removed from the United States. They’ve been arrested through various components throughout the Tampa Bay region. They’ve been ordered removed by a judge,” ICE’s David Gritte tells Breitbart News.
“We’re preparing to move them to the airport for staging across the southwest border for final removal to their home country,” Gritte says. Within this group, there’s one known and suspected Tren de Aragua gang member.”
In total, 1,120 illegal aliens were arrested by ICE agents as part of Operation Tidal Wave, 63 percent of whom had been arrested for crimes or had criminal convictions.
Likewise, 378 of the illegal aliens arrested had final deportation orders but refused to leave the U.S. These illegal aliens, seen in Breitbart’s exclusive footage, face immediate deportation, while the remaining illegal aliens will stay in ICE custody pending their deportations.
Those criminal illegal aliens arrested by ICE agents included gang members associated with MS-13, Tren de Aragua, Brown Pride Aztecas, Barrio Azteca, Surenos (sur-13), and the 18th Street Gang, as well as sex offenders, violent criminals, and fugitives running from the law.
Among those illegal aliens arrested in Operation Tidal Wave is Ciro Ramon Castaneda Perez of Venezuela, who is a known member of the terrorist group Tren de Aragua. Castaneda Perez, at the time of his arrest, had a final deportation order.
Carlos Eduardo Perez Perez, an illegal alien suspected of being an associate of Tren de Aragua, was also arrested. Perez first crossed the U.S.-Mexico border near Sierra Blanca, Texas, in July 2024. He was ordered deported the following month.
MS-13 gang member Rafael Juarez Cabrera of Guatemala was arrested after having illegally re-entered the U.S. despite being deported on three different occasions. He remains in ICE custody pending his prosecution and, after that, deportation.
Brown Pride Aztecas gang member Luis Melito Gonzalez Arrellanno of Mexico was arrested in the operation too. He has a long criminal history in the U.S., including armed carjacking, firing a weapon, fraud, and illegal re-entry. Arrellanno has been ordered deported.
Gritte told Breitbart News that the Trump administration is allowing ICE agents to do their job while former President Joe Biden’s administration restricted their ability to arrest criminal illegal aliens.
“We’re allowed to do what we do to protect the community, and every alien that comes across our desk, we make the best effort to take them into custody and either execute the final order of removal or put them in front of an immigration judge to make a following decision on their case,” Gritte said.
“There were a different set of priorities issued under the former secretary of Homeland Security that just tightened, narrowed the scope of what we could be taking action on … for the greater community in which we all work and live here in Tampa Bay, yes [we were at risk],” Gritte said. “Whenever an alien is encountered and we don’t do our job to put them into custody, that puts the public at risk.”
For Operation Tidal Wave, ICE worked closely with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the U.S. Marshals Service.
In addition to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) allowing state law enforcement agencies to assist ICE, sheriff’s offices from Alachua County, Baker County, Brandford County, Brevard County, Clay County, Hernando County, Hillsborough County, Indian River County, Orange County, Pinellas County, St. John’s County, Sumter County, and Volusia County helped with the operation.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter here.
Matt Perdie leads production operations for Breitbart News.
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