Through today’s agreement, ICE will delegate the authority to the Florida Highway Patrol to perform specified immigration officer functions under the agency’s direction and oversight. This includes identifying and removing already incarcerated criminal aliens who are eligible for removal before they are re-released into the community.

Governor Ron DeSantis announced today that Florida has entered into a groundbreaking Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), making the state one of the first in the nation to empower its law enforcement officers to perform federal immigration enforcement duties.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is pressing ahead on aiding federal deportation efforts even as he remains locked in a stalemate with legislative leaders over new laws to beef up state and local immigration enforcement.