Immigration officers have quietly taken more illegal migrants into custody in Florida than in any other state, according to a report.
The Miami Field Office for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Office has reportedly made about 120 arrests per day in 2026. That amounts to 9,880 total arrests up to May 10, according to the New York Times.
The paper also points out that the record in Florida far outpaces even the areas of the country — such as Minneapolis and Chicago — where the administration implemented a policy of ICE surges where immigration agents targeted specific areas.
Florida, though, has a particular distinction that helped lead to this record and that is its governor. Republican Ron DeSantis announced early in the second Trump administration that he would spearhead a close enforcement of the president’s mass deportation policy. And he has made good on that promise.
Last week, though, a group of county sheriffs on a state advisory council announced their intention to send a letter to the Trump administration demanding that the president slow his deportation drive and to craft new rules to offer a part to citizenship for illegal migrants who are holding down a job and have not broken any laws aside from entering the country illegally.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, the chair of the State Immigration Enforcement Council, recently said those migrants who are here “working hard” need a break from the president’s mass deportation policy.
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“To make sure that the top priority is to remove these folks that are violating the law, these people who’ve been through the immigration system, these people who have avoided the immigration system and snuck into the United States, but there are those here that are working hard. They have their kids in college or in school. They’re going to church on Sunday. They’re not violating the law, and … they are living the American dream and are being very productive and … doing good in this country,” Judd said.
“But we have allowed, what I call the criminal troublemaker, to just flood in this country and victimize people. And I think a path for the good folks with a good intention, for the right reason, is reasonable,” he added.
Judd went on to complain that federal immigration operatives are deporting people who “are healthy and can work.”
Gov. DeSantis blasted the sheriff’s claims, saying, “This idea that unless you’re an axe murderer you should be able to stay, that is not consistent with our laws, and it’s also not good policy,” WSFU reported. DeSantis added that Judd and the council should not send their letter to the Trump administration.
Judd experienced a very swift backlash for his conceit, however, and later backpedaled a bit by trying to recast his standing as a crime buster, saying, “Any illusion that we’re not supporting the president or the government is absolutely false. We’re providing input. We’re providing feedback,” WPLG-TV reported.
Naturally, state Democrats love Judd and his apostasy. Orange County Democrat Mayor Jerry Demings, who is also running for Florida Gov., praised Sheriff Judd and insisted that immigration policy has “gone overboard,” Orlando Weekly reported. “I applaud the sheriffs for finally speaking up about something that was unfair and out of balance,” Demings added.
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