Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem came to the Tampa Bay area on Monday, where she praised the partnership between the federal government and Florida law enforcement agencies in cracking down on undocumented immigration.
“Florida has been, I think, the state that has provided the most law enforcement agreements under the 287(g) than any other state” she said at the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office in Bradenton. “It shows that they recognize the importance of bringing individuals to justice that have [been] convicted [of] crimes against the people that live in their communities.”
Under legislation passed by GOP lawmakers in Tallahassee earlier this year, all 67 counties in Florida are required to enter into 287(g) agreements with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). That program allows local law enforcement to work with ICE to deport undocumented immigrants. Although municipalities in Florida are not required to enter into those agreements, hundreds of them have — including Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and St. Petersburg.
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Noem said she came to West Central Florida on Monday because often “we see the news distorting the truth and not bringing the real facts” to the public when it comes to ICE detaining “criminal illegal aliens.”
She specifically cited the cases of four undocumented immigrants with criminal backgrounds who have recently been detained and deported.
Since January, Noem said, DHS has arrested more than 480,000 undocumented immigrants, 70% of whom she said had either been charged or convicted of criminal allegations. However, according to data obtained by Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, as of Sept. 21, 71.5% held in ICE detention have no criminal conviction.
She also touted how effective the Trump administration’s offer to allow people to “self-deport” has been. DHS has promised to give individuals who wish to return to their countries of origin $1,000 each and one-way airplane tickets.
The DHS reported last month 1.6 million people have voluntarily self-deported and more than 400,000 people have been deported since Jan. 20.
Noem also reported that since ICE began advertising for 10,000 new agents, the agency has received more than 175,000 applicants.
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