The high number of arrests has puzzled local immigrant advocates, experts and former lawmakers, who say they expected its neighboring counties to the south to have more arrests because Miami-Dade and Broward are home to larger immigrant populations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI do get phone calls on a regular basis of people continuing to be detained, and I wonder about that, too,\u201d said Rick Roth, a Belle Glade farmer and former Florida Republican legislator. \u201cI wonder because some of this is political, why Palm Beach County’s is getting a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roth suggests it\u2019s the county\u2019s large agricultural industry that relies on immigrant labor, making the county a target for enforcement.<\/p>\n
Lindsay McElroy, of the Lake Worth Beach-based Guatemalan-Maya Center, believes the reason is more personal. She points to Dave Kerner, the head of Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, which manages FHP.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe really is familiar with the lay of the land,\u201d McElroy said.<\/p>\n
Kerner, who is from Lake Worth, represented a majority-Hispanic statehouse district as a Democrat and served as mayor of Palm Beach County \u2014 all before being appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis to oversee FHP in 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s familiar with his former constituents that he used to represent. He knows where they cash their checks, he knows their routes to work,\u201d McElroy said. \u201cIt\u2019s very easy for him to direct Florida Highway Patrol and take advantage of his former constituents.\u201d<\/p>\n
WLRN emailed Kerner multiple times requesting an interview about the outsized impact of his agency on his home county. WLRN also sent him McElroy\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n
Neither he nor FHP\u2019s spokesperson responded to WLRN.<\/p>\n
Impact of 287(g) agreement with ICE<\/p>\n
FHP has led the charge in Florida to locate and arrest undocumented immigrants through its authority from the 287(g) program, which is an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).<\/p>\n
ICE and U.S. Border Patrol conduct their own operations in the state through arrests and transferring custody of immigrants from local jails, which are not reflected in the State Board of Immigration Enforcement<\/a> database.<\/p>\n FHP\u2019s 287(g) arrests total 6,666, according to the database, as of May 5. The figure is likely a steep undercount, since it only dates back to August 2025. FHP inked its agreement roughly six months earlier.<\/p>\n READ MORE: ‘Data masking\u2019? Florida trooper\u2019s traffic stops raise questions about race, ethnicity reporting<\/a><\/p>\n At DeSantis\u2019 direction, Kerner signed the agency up for the 287(g) Task Force Model in February 2025.<\/p>\n The model was previously discontinued under President Obama due to allegations of rampant profiling by police in Arizona<\/a>. It was revived under President Trump<\/a> last year \u2014 empowering local police officers to question the immigration status of people they stop and arrest them on the spot.<\/p>\n At a press conference<\/a> last September, Kerner detailed the level of collaboration between FHP troopers and ICE and Border Patrol agents.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen a traffic stop happens and the investigation tends toward the legal status of somebody in that vehicle, we have Border Patrol and we have ICE with us in our vehicles, so they can on the roadside do that proper vetting,\u201d Kerner said.<\/p>\n He said that FHP has stood up units dedicated only to immigration enforcement, in addition to roughly 2,000 troopers trained on 287(g).<\/p>\n Sam Navarro\/The Miami Herald<\/p>\n Florida Highway Patrol trooper vehicle <\/p>\n FHP\u2019s efforts have proved lucrative for the agency, too.<\/p>\n![\"Florida](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1778366101_113_.jpeg\"\/)
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