ICE raids, mass deportation are 'the new normal,' modeled after Florida [View all]
Source: USA Today
May 12, 2025, 2:16 p.m. ET
Florida officials called Operation Tidal Wave, where over 1,000 migrants were detained in five days, the "new normal." And not just for the Sunshine State, but for the rest of the country.
Within the next 60 days, the federal government will attempt to put into practice an approach to mass deportation that's "strikingly similar" to Operation Tidal Wave, said Larry Keefe, executive director of the State Board of Immigration Enforcement, at a press conference in Tampa May 12. "The techniques, the methods … will be the standard that our brother and sister states apply in the effort," he said.
At the lectern, Keefe showed off a 37-page document that he called the "Florida blueprint" to mass deportation. The State of Florida Immigration Enforcement Operations Plan, he said, will be the "prototype." "Operation Tidal Wave" was a week-long sting by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, Florida law enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security that targeted areas with high-immigrant populations. It led to the arrest of more than 1,100 people, include a man who had no known criminal record and had recently played Jesus in his church's Easter play.
According to records reviewed by the Miami Herald, authorities aimed to detain 800 people in Miami-Dade and Broward counties and the cities of Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Stuart, Tallahassee and Fort Myers.
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/05/12/ice-raids-mass-deportation-new-normal-florida/83582776007/
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