TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Friday marks one year since immigration enforcement conducted a massive raid at a Tallahassee construction site.
The joint federal and state immigration raid resulted in the arrest of over 100 undocumented construction workers at a student housing construction project on Gaines Street in the College Town area.
The massive response made national headlines and left several families scrambling to figure out where their loved ones had gone.
Many were shipped to detention centers in Texas.
More Florida politics:
On Friday, Gov. DeSantis touted the state’s immigration enforcment efforts during a press conference in South Florida.
He says local, state and federal agencies teamed up to make hundreds of arrests and identify unaccompanied migrant children.
Officials say Florida has expanded its use of the 287 (g) program, which allows state and local officers to work with federal immigration authorities.
In January 2025, Florida had about 5,000 designated immigration officers. Now the state is close to 8,000.
“The main thing that I think sets us apart, it required cooperation from all state and local law enforcement agencies throughout Florida with DHS in this really is a historic effort,” DeSantis said. “I think the success has been really, really significant. If you look at how we’ve worked with the Trump administration, it’s not been a single state that has come anywhere close to doing what we’ve doing. ”
DeSantis also said there are no plans to close Alligator Alcatraz, but did say the Everglades detention center is not a permanent facility.
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