HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Department of Homeland Security officials will hold a joint news conference Wednesday evening in Homestead.
Officials are expected to address efforts to tackle illegal immigration along the state’s coastline, and sheriffs from across the state are expected to attend.
News4JAX confirmed sheriffs from St. Johns, Clay, Nassau, Putnam and Bradford counties were at the news conference. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said Sheriff T.K. Waters was unable to make it, and we have yet to hear back from Baker County.
Bradford County Sheriff Gordon Smith said Wednesday’s conference about enforcing illegal immigration policies is important. He said the visual of the sheriffs, standing next to Homeland Security and the governor, will send the message to people who live in the state illegally to “go home.”
Keith Pearson, Senior Counselor to state and local Law Enforcement for the Department of Homeland Security said DeSantis and President Trump are focused on safety.
“In his first month of office, President Trump closed the border to illegal aliens invading our country and now secretary of the Department of Homeland Security,” Pearson said. “I am proud to announce that daily border encounters have decreased to a low of 94% a low that we’ve never seen in decades.”
This conference comes two days after one that was held in Winter Haven to address updates from the Florida Sheriffs Association on illegal immigration in the state.
During that presentation, News4JAX learned all 67 sheriffs are complying with ICE’s 287 programs, which help law enforcement address illegal immigration locally and let ICE know when undocumented immigrants are arrested and booked.
“President Trump promised to conduct the largest deportation operation in American history,” DeSantis said. “The fact is, if the state and locals are not fully participating in those efforts, it’s going to be very difficult to achieve that. So Florida, we’ve stood up. We want to be part of the solution. We are going to be there every step of the way.”
Pearson shared that as of Feb. 25, ICE has signed 80 warrant service officer agreements in 12 states, 64 jail enforcement agreements in 17 states and 17 task force agreements in six states as part of the 287g programs.
DeSantis said there have already been successes with illegal immigration enforcement. He hoped it would be a model other states would follow.
“If all the states did this, this problem would go away much quicker, I’ll tell you that, and your communities will be safer. The taxpayers will have less burdens placed on them,” he said.
It’s unclear if taxpayers will have less of a burden with immigration enforcement but DeSantis also mentioned there is federal reimbursement through the 287g program for operations. He also mentioned the state legislature appropriated $250 million for grant programs for law enforcement.
That announcement also follows the formation of the State Immigration Enforcement Council. Waters is a member of that council.
It’s a panel that advises the State Board of Immigration Enforcement on how to combat illegal immigration.
Smith said enforcement of immigration laws will look the same in all 50 states.
“We’re all making sure we have our 287 program in place with ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement. We’re also making sure we have more service officers in each and every county to serve those federal warrants that come down and that we’re all part of the task force and we’ll all be working together,” Smith said.
