More than 350 immigrants were detained after a four-day operation by the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP), announced Friday, Sept. 26, Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins, who reiterated that state authorities will go after their estimate of 1.1 million undocumented immigrants in the state.
“Today we want to announce a successful operation led by the Florida Highway Patrol in coordination with our state and federal partners: they have found 354 people who are illegal in our state and will be deporting them,” Collins said at an event with state troopers.
Migrant Detention by the Florida Highway Patrol
🚨 BREAKING: In a single enforcement operation, local police just arrested nearly 400 ILLEGAL ALIENS across Central Florida.
This is the same sheriff who vowed to shoot leftist terrorists “graveyard DEAD” if they attack law enforcement.
It involved Florida Highway Patrol,… pic.twitter.com/0V2ZYTtAEC
– Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) September 26, 2025
The lieutenant governor, from the Republican Party, recalled that Florida is one of the few states that have empowered its highway patrol to carry out immigration operations in a complementary manner to those of the federal government and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Although he did not specify their nationalities or where they are being held while awaiting removal, Collins bragged about the two immigration detention centers opened by Governor Ron DeSantis.
These are Alligator Alcatraz, west of Miami, and Deportation Depot, in the north.
Just hours earlier, the Mexican consul in Orlando, Juan Sabines Guerrero, reported that there are 176 Mexicans detained at Deportation Depot, more than three times as many as a week ago.
And that all of the arrests were made by local Florida authorities for driving without a state license, or riding as a passenger without immigration documents.
Collins said Florida “has more federal 287(g) agreements,” for local law enforcement agencies to cooperate with ICE, “and deportations than any other state in the nation.”
Nuestras tropas estatales y agentes de seguridad están realizando retenes por cuestiones migratorias en nuestros caminos cada día. Se está patrullando cada milla de carretera en el gran estado de Florida
Jay Collins, vicegobernador de Florida
Florida’s detention centers have been emblematic of Trump’s immigration policy, under whose administration the number of people in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody has roughly doubled, with more than 58,000 detained in September, according to Trac.
With information from EFE
