Since immigration enforcement ramped up during President Donald Trump’s second term, Florida has been one of the states feeling the brunt of the crackdown.<\/p>\n
\nArrests in the state more than tripled, according to government data obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests by the Deportation Data Project<\/a>.<\/p>\n \nIn 2025, law enforcement made nearly 77 immigration-related arrests per day. A year earlier, the average was about 20 per day.<\/p>\n \nImmigration-related arrests in Florida came in at 20,629 between Jan. 20, 2025 and Oct. 15, 2025.<\/p>\n \nThat’s about 10% of such arrests in the country. And, it puts Florida second only to Texas<\/a>, which had nearly a quarter of all immigration arrests.<\/p>\n \nAbout 2,922 of the arrests were made in the Tampa Bay region.<\/p>\n READ MORE: ‘Data masking\u2019? Florida trooper\u2019s traffic stops raise questions about race, ethnicity reporting<\/a><\/p>\n \nFor the last year, WUSF has documented the growing intensity of immigration enforcement through personal stories and data<\/a>.<\/p>\n \nA Cuban woman in Tampa was in the process of applying for her green card when she was detained and deported<\/a>, leaving behind her husband and 1-year-old daughter.<\/p>\n \nThe detention of a 22-year-old from Sarasota began with a traffic stop and ended with her self-deportation to Mexico<\/a>. Her detainment was one of many facilitated by local law enforcement agencies that entered 287(g) agreements<\/a> with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).<\/p>\n